


Showdown at Sherman Dam

by PrimeRadiant



Category: Transformers - All Media Types, Transformers Generation One
Genre: F/M, Other
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-10
Updated: 2020-09-19
Packaged: 2021-03-07 00:27:29
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 9
Words: 19,876
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26397883
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PrimeRadiant/pseuds/PrimeRadiant
Summary: The original Transformers cartoon ended with a short 4th season. Let's give it a 5th season.The Golden Age is back--and is gone again. Spike and Carly's marriage is in trouble.Danny's closer and closer to Arcee everyday, and needs therapy.Optimus Prime and Rodimus have a falling out.Spike struggles to be human.As the Decepticons plan a deadly attack, only an Autobot detective and his partner can save the day.
Relationships: Arcee/Daniel Witwicky, Carly Witwicky/Spike Witwicky, Nightbeat/Muzzle, Optimus Prime/Rodimus | Rodimus Prime, Spike/Cerebros
Comments: 11
Kudos: 17





	1. Divorce

[[begin data collection and report of incident at Sherman Dam]]

[[Email thread intercepted June 2008.]]

FROM: carlycarlo@alum.mit.edu

TO: spike@autobotcity.org

DATE: 2008-06-17 11:42 PM PST

SUBJ: I’m sorry Spike 

MAILED-BY: blaster-blastin-at-ya.mx.gmail.com

Spike,

I’m sorry but this is the end for us.

I sat here for almost an hour thinking of what to call this, how to write this. I searched online for things to say and nothing sounded right.

First, thank you for respecting my decision to move back home. I know that couldn’t have been easy. It’s only been a week and Daniel has been doing just fine, always on the computer like always.

I just can’t go on like this. The world is so scary with Decepticons trying to kill us, but you deliberately putting our child into an Autobot to fight against them? That’s just too much, Spike. 

I tried to ignore it, and I really was happy when I heard about The Golden Age coming back to Cybertron. But then you and Cerebros wanted to stay on Nebulos? Indefinitely? I just can’t leave my whole world to fight evil green people for the rest of my life.

I’m going to ask for a divorce. You must know how hard this is for me. I should tell you this face-to-face but I know I’ll ust fall back into the same pattern--”This is the last time, Carly, I swear” and I’ll believe you and let our family keep on falling into danger.

Do you know I still have nightmares about you and Daniel inside a giant planet robot that almost dropped you into acid? 

I’m sorry again. I just can’t believe the connection you and Daniel have to these robots is healthy. It’s going to get you both killed and I just can’t stand by. I know you’re shocked, and we can talk soon, but I will need a counselor present when that happens. 

A lawyer will be contacting you, whenever you’re back on Earth.

-Carly

[[end email sample]]

* * *

[[Decepticon chat log over North American XMPP client: June 2008.]]

::Chaar Chaat / Soundwave (Mod)

Hail Galvatron! Welcome to deceptichat.???.???.org. Please contact a Mod for any suspicious behavior.

June 18 12:22:45 PM PST <Breakdown has entered the chat.>

June 18 12:22:49 PM PST <wild-ridr has entered the chat.>

June 18 12:22:59 PM PST Mindwipe: Why have we been summoned here? :bat-emoticon:

June 18 12:23:11 PM PST Arseface: hurr hurr

June 18 12:23:43 PM PST Onslaught: Galvatron has ordered it. We’re talking in this encrypted chat to discuss our new campaign on Earth.

June 18 12:23:50 PM PST <Dragstrip has entered the chat.>

June 18 12:25:10 PM PST <Slugslinger has entered the chat.>

June 18 12:26:12 PM PST Breakdown: HAS ANYONE NOTICED THE CONSTRUCTICONS ARE GONE??? NO ONE HAS SEEN THEM IN A LONG TIME!

June 18 12:26:14 PM PST Arseface: hurr hurr

June 18 12:27:32 PM PST Triggerhappy: hey did anybody hear about the seacons

June 18 12:29:03 PM PST Soundwave (MOD): Apeface, I am changing your handle to be more appropriate. Please stand by.

June 18 12:30:41 PM PST <Arseface has been changed to Apeface.>

June 18 12:30:43 PM PST Apeface: hurr durr

June 18 12:32:19 PM PST Dragstrip: Yeah, Breakdown, haven’t seen them in a very long time, after Trypticon I think the Headmasters got them.

June 18 12:33:17 PM PST Brawl: They were geeks but I miss’em, they built some good shit for us. Fuckin’ Autobots.

June 18 12:33:22 PM PST Apeface: fuckin’ fuckin’ hurr durr

June 18 12:33:36 PM PST Brawl: shut up fuckin monkey fleshling

June 18 12:34:40 PM PST Snapdragon: stop talking shit about Headmasters, guzzler

June 18 12:34:55 PM PST Brawl: fuck you too

June 18 12:37:21 PM PST SkullyGrax: you scared, Brawl? Headmasters are gonna replace ya

June 18 12:38:20 PM PST Soundwave (MOD): Fights in this chat are forbidden. Galvatron will read these logs later and will punish anyone violating these rules.

June 18 12:38:14 PM PST Blot: Breakdown yeh i heard about them they got killed

June 18 12:38:26 PM PST Brawl: I just said that asshole

June 18 12:39:01 PM PST <Motormaster has entered the chat.>

June 18 12:39:46 PM PST Blot: heard about the seacons too theyre fighting those things in new york, anyone heard from them

June 18 12:42:28 PM PST Wild-ridr: why are we here again? This shit is boring

June 18 12:44:59 PM PST Deadend: why does any of it matter? Seriously. Answer me. We’re all dead. Constructicons are dead. Thrust, Dirge, Ramjet: dead. All the old guys are dead. We’re all going to die. We’re dying right now unless this plan works. And even then. Doomed.

June 18 12:45:44 PM PST Motormaster: Shut the fuck up, Dead End. And no more talking about dead combiners. Onslaught, what’s the plan already?

June 18 12:45:51 PM PST Cutthroat: shut up deadend

June 18 12:45:58 PM PST Ripper-Snapper: SHUT UP DEADEND

June 18 12:47:34 PM PST Onslaught: Galvatron is planning an assault on Sherman Dam. He and Prime fought there once about 25 Earth years ago. We’re going to take that plant as a site for our base, now that Cybertron’s golden energy has been used up.

June 18 12:47:41 PM PST <Counterpunch has left the chat.>

June 18 12:49:20 PM PST Motormaster: That’s IT? Attacking an old target just because Galvatron’s sore from an old loss? That’s leadership these days? We got Decepticons about to die from no energon, and we could’ve gone with Scorponok and Zarak. I lived through exile on Chaar and I ain’t goin’ back there.

June 18 12:50:02 PM PST Hun-Grr: NOT RISKING MY TROOPS ANYMORE FOR THAT PURPLE IDIOT GRRRR

June 18 12:51:50 PM PST Soundwave (MOD): Motormaster and Hun-Grr, cease and desist. This is treason. Galvatron will not be pleased.

June 18 12:51:59 PM PST ???????????: STARSCREAM LIVES

June 18 12:52:00 PM PST <?????????? has left the chat.>

June 18 12:52:13 PM PST Motormaster: He can shove it. We’re out. If the rest of you have half a brain module, you’ll join Zarak. Galvatron’s days are numbered.

June 18 12:52:58 PM PST Apeface: fuck yeah

June 18 12:53:11 PM PST Blot: im purple too

June 18 12:53:36 PM PST Octane: okay that’s creepy, I’m out, not him again

June 18 12:53:47 PM PST Brawl: And look at fuckin Soundwave, used to be #2 and now just readin fuckin chats all day.

June 18 12:54:21 PM PST Soundwave (MOD): Silence, Brawl.

June 18 12:54:33 PM PST Brawl: You’re fuckin’ next Soundwave

June 18 12:54:35 PM PST <Brawl has left the chat>

June 18 12:54:56 PM PST Onslaught: Brawl???

June 18 12:55:03 PM PST <Motormaster has left the chat.>

June 18 12:55:03 PM PST <Hun-Grr has left the chat.>

June 18 12:55:03 PM PST <wild-ridr has left the chat.>

June 18 12:55:03 PM PST <Blot has left the chat.>

June 18 12:55:03 PM PST <Ripper-Snapper has left the chat.>

June 18 12:55:04 PM PST <Vortex has left the chat.>

June 18 12:55:04 PM PST <Breakdown has left the chat.>

June 18 12:55:05 PM PST <Deadend has left the chat.>

June 18 12:55:05 PM PST <Cutthroat has left the chat.>

June 18 12:55:06 PM PST <Dragstrip has left the chat.>

June 18 12:55:06 PM PST <Mindwipe has left the chat.>

June 18 12:55:07 PM PST <Weirdwolf has left the chat.>

June 18 12:55:07 PM PST <SkullyGrax has left the chat.>

[[Apeface types “hurr durr” 450 times. Snipped.]]

June 18 13:37:12 PM PST <Counterpunch has entered the chat.>

June 18 13:37:13 PM PST <GALVATRON has entered the chat.>

June 18 13:37:24 PM PST Counterpunch: Mighty Galvatron, this is the problem I wanted to warn you about. Treason!

June 18 13:37:55 PM PST GALVATRON: HUHAHNTUENCHROCHUAHEUHAOHUDHEHUSAHC>HRCUHARCHU>U

June 18 13:38:23 PM PST GALVATRON: “H”KK<KXC&I&&DDGUDDTHDUHDQTUDUH>>UDRDQUNCEHCH>CHBQQZV

June 18 13:38:37 Soundwave (MOD): Galvatron, your energy output is overwhelming your chat server.

June 18 13:38:45 PM PST GALVATRON: AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

June 18 13:39:22 PM PST GALVATRON: THEY WILL ALL BE HUNTED DOWN AND DESTROYED. STARTING WITH ZARAK! BEGIN PREPARATIONS FOR THE ASSAULT ON SHERMAN DAM!!! RECALL THE PREDACONS FROM SUPPORTING THE SEACONS. OPTIMUS PRIME WILL BE DESTROYED AGAIN!

[[end chat log]]

* * *

[[Email thread intercepted June 2008.]]

FROM: spike@autobotcity.org

TO: carlycarlo@alum.mit.edu

DATE: 2008-06-18 3:47 AM PST

SUBJ: RE: I’m sorry Spike 

MAILED-BY: rewind-eject-reject.mx.automail.com

Carly, we need to talk about this. Max literally just passed through an E.D.C warp gate near Pluto. Light takes 5 hours to get to me from Earth.

I don’t think you understand what’s going on. We’re in a _war._ The Decepticons, the Quintessons, the evil Nebulans, and now there’s some new threat in New York all of a sudden. I know you want to keep Danny safe, but he’s safest with Max and Arcee. No one can give us the safety that the Autobots do.

Can you really throw all this away? I remember that brave girl from that arcade all those years ago, my little “chemi-queen” who’s so much smarter than me. I remember being that guy on the oil rig, just fixing things. And now I AM those things, I’m BECOMING those things, becoming Max just as Danny is becoming Arcee, honey it’s the next step of evolution for humans and I want you there with me as it happens.

Please. What will it take? Even if I hang up my control helmet for Cerebros and Max it won’t stop what’s happening. And Danny. Danny and Arcee are the same. If you separate them, that won’t change a thing.

Arcee would miss you. Fortress Maximus would miss you. We love you, honey. I’ll call soon, but please, don’t take any drastic action. You’d be hurting Daniel. And me.

-Spike

FROM: carlycarlo@alum.mit.edu

TO: spike@autobotcity.org

DATE: 2008-06-19 00:02 AM PST

SUBJ: RE: RE: I’m sorry Spike 

MAILED-BY: star-scream-lives.mx.gmail.com

This is the last message I’m going to send you, Spike. You’re just going to go back to the usual methods to convince me to stay, and it’s not right.

I don’t think you love me, but just the memory of me. And I think that’s true for me too. You make decisions without me, we never touch, and the last time we did try to have sex last year, I could hear beeping, Spike. I could hear your bones full of metal and cybertronium. Were your Autobots…”with us”, then? Maybe they’ve always been with you, ever since you got trapped inside an Autobot body all those years ago. Maybe you’re wrong and you can still get help.

Maybe you just don’t want help.

By the time you get back to Autobot City Oregon, I will be gone. Goldbug is helping me pack. Don’t be angry with him. He’s sad too, but he and Wheelie are cheering Daniel up.

-Carly

* * *

[[SMS extracted June 21, 2008 from Spike Witwicky’s cellular phone.]]

Spike: Carly? Carly are you there? (Sent 4:15 PM)

Spike: Please, honey. Please respond. (Sent 4:17 PM)

Carly: Dad, this is Danny on Mom’s phone. (Sent 5:43 PM)

Carly: Leave Mom alone. (Sent 5:44 PM)

Carly: Okay? (Sent 5:44 PM)

Spike: Son!? Are you okay? (Sent 5:49 PM)

Spike: I’m sorry you are caught up in all this. Just tell me you’re okay. (Sent 5:54 PM)

Carly: We’re fine. We can handle things. I’m here and I’m also parked outside. Just stay away and leave Mom alone for a little bit. Not mad at you, just Mom needs help. (Sent 6:13 PM)

Spike: so sorry, son. (Sent 6:18 PM)

Carly: so are we. (Sent 6:29 PM)

[[end cell log]]


	2. Therapy. Ask me anything.

[[Addendum to DSM-IV psychiatric manual]]

REQUEST FOR ADDITION: Transformer-based disorders, “Cybertroses”. Pending August 2003.

PROPOSED DESCRIPTION: possible subset of depressive schizoaffective disorder caused by auditory hallucinations; technophilia; potential ADD/ADHD comorbidities. Excessive anthropomorphization of computers.

[[End addendum.]]

* * *

[[6-month psychiatric evaluation of Daniel Witwicky, July 31, 2008]]

REASON FOR CONSULTATION: potential “cybertrosis” symptoms; appearance of anxiety disorder in mother, Lisa “Carly” Carlo (EDIT: last name recently reverted to birth name following recent divorce).

PRESENTING PROBLEM: “Constantly dreaming of my car. Deep conversations with a voice in my mind. My mother and father are terrible people. I feel so heavy on Earth.”

HISTORY OF PRESENT ILLNESS: Daniel (Danny) is a 15-year old male who has shown signs of intense depression following the divorce of his parents. He claims this is due to being separated from Cybertronian affairs on Earth, and speaks of a hallucinatory link with a female entity named “R.C.” (sp). Sometimes he speaks to her during a conversation with other human beings. Subject is withdrawing and showing less and less interest in relationships with other human beings.

CHIEF COMPLAINT: “None of you understand what binary bonding does to my human brain.”

FAMILY HISTORY OF ILLNESS: Mother exhibits PTSD-like symptoms after dealing with family in extreme peril. Father has been referred to this clinic for similar symptoms as his son but has refused treatment.

CURRENT MEDICATIONS: [[List of SSRIs irrelevant to this document.]] Subject has attempted consumption of “energon” (a name for N,N-di-isopropyl-hydroxyamino-ethanol and 5-hydroxymethyl-3-[2-(Diisopropylamino)ethyl]-3 _H_ -indol-7-yl acetate) and became sick with alcohol poisoning.

TRANSCRIPT EXCERPT:

(Dr. June Darby, psychiatrist, labeled “J”) Hi, Danny! Have a seat. How’ve you been?

(20-second silence from Daniel, labeled “D”)

(J) Do you need some time to get your thoughts together?

(D) I have a lot of thoughts lately I guess.

(J) Oh? About what?

(D) My role with the Autobots.

(J) Tell me about the Autobots. How do you feel about them?

(D) I’m one of them now.

(J sifts through her papers) Yes, I recall you saying that you no longer believe you are human. You were one of the first humans to live permanently in Autobot City, right?

(D) Yeah.

(J) What was that like?

(D) I dunno. Good and bad. They’re so advanced but they’ve fought for so long. It’s depressing. I watched Prime die. Like, I felt his death. I remember the light of the Matrix. I felt like my eyes never went back to normal after that. And then he came back. And after the Golden Age came back, it went away. And now Rodimus went back to being Hot Rod, but here on Earth, they had a big fight and aren’t really friends anymore.

(J) I remember seeing those two on the news. The truck and the...Winnebago-thing? They had a falling out?

(D) Yeah, Prime wanted to repair the damage we’ve done to Earth and then leave, but Hot Rod felt like Earth was more of his home and so did a lot of other Autobots. A lot were basically born here.

(J) Is your mother keeping you away from the Autobots?

(D) Yeah. But Arcee got permission to come with me and live with us, me and Mom.

(J) Tell me about Arcee.

(D) She’s an Autobot I’m bonded to.

(J) Bonded?

(D) I don’t know how to say it. That’s not...that word doesn’t really cover it.

(J) You called her a ‘she’. Arcee’s a robot, right?

(D) Yeah, but she’s a she. They have gender too.

(J) How is that-

(D) Look. It’s true. I know. It’s true.

(J) Okay. So you communicate with her?

(D) Yeah.

(J) Like in your mind? 

(D becomes agitated) Yes, it’s a voice. A fucking voice. I hear voices. If you want to up my dosage, just do it already. Can I go now?

(J) No one is judging you here. Please. Sit down. ...okay, thank you. I just want to understand, Danny. That’s it, just sit back and relax. Okay. You can hear the voice of a female robot in your mind?

(D) When you say it like that I feel like you’re making fun of me!

(J) I’m not making fun of you at all. I’m sorry I came off that way. Please tell me, what is she like?

(D looks away, starts unconsciously tracing an embroidered “D” on his jumpsuit jacket with his finger.) She’s a crazy fighter. No mercy to those who want to hurt people. But to me she’s my best friend. We know everything about each other. And we keep on learning about each other’s species. I...was bitten by some monster Decepticon a few years ago. On another planet. I broke like every bone in my body. (D begins to cry.) I had some brain damage. Multiple organs punctured. But Dad and Arcee saved me. She gave herself up to heal me. She...filled the damaged parts of my brain in a way that didn’t happen even for Dad. I have life-support struts built into my body...

(J) Oh, Danny.

(D) And it used to be that I could think of a “her” separate from “me” but lately that’s not true. I feel like I’m looking through her eyes, and...I just am her now. Sometimes at school I feel like I’m just some guy, but other times I feel like I’m giant and pink and I’m looking down at the other students.

(J clears her throat) Does...Arcee make you do things? Things you otherwise wouldn’t?

(D) She’s not a bad thing for me at all.

(J) You didn’t answer me, Danny. Can I talk with her?

(D) Yes. You have been.

(J) Arcee?

(D) Yes. I know you’re concerned, Dr. Darby. I promise you I would never do anything to hurt Daniel. When he’s hurt, I am hurt.

(J) Arcee, do you believe it’s possible to even separate from Daniel at this point?

(D) It may be possible, but I don’t know what the after-effects would be. And I don’t want to risk hurting him. I think we may need each other.

(J) You may be learning about our species, Miss, but I need to let you know something: humans go through changes, very rapid changes, at Danny’s age. Your presence may be warping an otherwise-healthy maturation.

(D) I know about the changes...we...are going through. Have gone through. And given all that’s already happened to his family don’t you think that he deserves someone to protect him?

(J) I have a son about Danny’s age. Believe me, I know what they’re like. Do you think it’s all right that he prefers spending time with you instead of other children his own age?

(D) I’m not some kid anymore.

(J) Am I talking with Arcee or Danny now?

(D) What’s the difference?

[[end transcript excerpt]]

* * *

[[Excerpt from Reddit Ask me Anything (AMA) with Rodimus Prime. August 9, 2008.]]

/r/AMA : posted by /u/rrrrrrrodimusprime. 32k upvotes

Bah-weep ni-ni-bong, Redditors! I’m former Autobot Leader Rodimus. AMA.

I was born on Cybertron, but I’m an Earthling too. My friends and I will always

fight for YOU and every single good person on Earth!

/u/trukkers_and_munkkies : 9.1k points

How old are you?

/u/rrrrrrrodimusprime : 16.7k points

Transformer time is kinda different from human time. We live a DAMN long time. But I figure I’m basically equivalent to a 21-year old!

/u/northwest_side_best_side : 11k points

About 25 years ago, some Decepticons attacked a dam near my house. I could see two robots fighting on top of the dam with binoculars. I remember a flood rushing toward my house, and a red van and a little yellow robot dug an instant trench right in front of my house. I even said “Thanks, neighbor!” before they drove off. It was surreal. We still have a laser burn in front of my house. My kids play in it. Every time I see it I thank God for the Autobots for keeping us safe. Not a question really but I always wanted to thank you for what you did.

/u/rrrrrrrodimusprime : 3k points

Well I wasn’t there for that one, and that was probably Ironhide

(may he rest in the Allspark) and Bumblebee. But thank you for your kind words.

/u/tfuk1984 : 23k points

What did the Matrix feel like when it turned you into the leader?

/u/rrrrrrrodimusprime : 16k points

When I first held the Matrix, after Optimus Prime dropped it, it almost “spoke” to me.

You know how your devices seek out Wi-Fi signals? I felt like that, like there had been

a signal that had always been there and had never listened to. 

When I destroyed Unicron with the Matrix, it was more of a religious thing for us.

I think in some of your religions, you call it a mystery? Or the moment just before

you have a deep realization? It was like that. The energy was always there, just

waiting for the right time to become manifest. As it happened, I certainly felt more

powerful, but the change was mostly internal. You ever have someone nearly bump

into you, and you just step out of their way? It was like that. Just a matter-of-fact. I

knew exactly what to do.

/u/ulchtar : -1.6k points

STARSCREAM LIVES EEEHAHAHAHAH

/u/rakshashasha : 11k points

The Autobots are a threat to Earth. They want the same resources as the Decepticons. I think all of you should leave.

/u/rrrrrrrodimusprime : 12k points

Yeah, I can see why you would feel that way. A lot of the problems were caused by 

Optimus Prime. He wanted to hide in the Ark and run all these secret operations, which 

made the battles so much worse. From the beginning I’ve been about open exchange

with the humans of Earth. Because we’re Earthlings too. We can help each other out.

Before when I was leader, I could see I was making the same mistakes as Prime, trying

to be him. Now it’s different. Did you know I was the one who came up with the idea of

Autobot City? [[FACT CHECK: this is not true.]] In exchange for energy, we share 

technology. Sound fair?

I’m one of you. Let me prove it.

/u/vastpredatorytweet : 87k points

What happened between you and Optimus Prime?

/u/rrrrrrrodimusprime : 3k points

He brought the war to your planet but didn’t know how to clean it up. I respect him but

I don’t respect that.

/u/bob_b : 29k points

No but what really happened?

[[end Reddit transcript]]

* * *

[[SMS exchange between Spike Witwicky and Earth Defense Force Capt. FAIRBORNE, M., from Flipper, Spike’s Micromaster flip-cell phone. August 21, 2008]]

Marissa

Are you there

(Sent 17:03)

  
  


Hi, Spike.

(Sent 17:05)

Spike: I’m back with new Autobots.

More H. and T. Masters from Nebulos.

(Sent 17:06)

Marissa: That’s great news.

We could really use the support.

(Sent 17:06)

Spike: One of them is Nightbeat. He’s

going to be an investigator I’m

assigning to your case in NY. I agree

that a lot of troubles are emerging

all at once. If we get Autobots, Joes

and EDC working together we can

handle anything.

(Sent 17:09)

Do you even work with Prime

or Rodimus anymore?

(Sent 17:09)

Spike: No. Those two have cost me me too 

much. Max and I are in control here.

(Sent 17:10)

Don’t be stupid. The Cons are

still a problem, Spike. You and I

both know they’re planning

something big.

(Sent 17:11)

Spike: I know.

(Sent 17:11)

Marissa: You’re going through a lot of shit right now.

Don’t pretend that isn’t affecting you. Is the divorce final?

(Sent 17:11)

Spike: Almost.

(Sent 17:11)

Marissa: I’m sorry. But work through it.

Earth needs all of us.

Even Prime and Rodimus.

I’ll ask my father how preparations with the Joes is going.

The accident in NY has everyone freaked out, and things are getting a little

extreme around here.

(Sent 17:12)

Spike: Nightbeat will check in with you ASAP.

Thank you for always telling me like it is, Marissa. (Sent 17:12)

Marissa: I promise you that I always will.

(Sent 17:12)

[[End SMS extraction]]

[[EDIT BY NIGHTBEAT: check-in with Flipper, as he feels like he betrayed Spike by sharing his logs]]


	3. Ruins of the Ark.

[[Partial list of human-Transformer “cold warfare” products]]

REFLKTR app: Micromaster Reflectors in deep cover in cell phones.

“Decepticon Actor’s Guild Skullgin”: beverage containing hypnotism-inducing ingredients sold at low Earth prices.

“Free space bridge” trips: simply teleport humans into deep space

Increasing “Decepticon junk mail” soliciting high-paying “jobs” that lead to prolonged absences, perhaps forcing them to perform maintenance on Trypticon or Scorponok

Several spurious websites including:

  * starscreamlives.info
  * starscreamsimmortalspark.info
  * thetruthaboutstarscream.info
  * cancelgalvatron.info



CIA has a potential backdoor into Metroplex’s network, CIA operations thwarted by mysterious “Chip Chase”, merits further investigation

[[end list]]

* * *

[[Personal log of interview with Optimus Prime, August 25, 2008. Dormant volcano.]]

I arrived on Earth 2 days, 3 hours and 12 Earth minutes ago. There is no time to waste.

The Autobots are split into three parts: Optimus Prime’s contingent, Rodimus Prime’s team, and Spike’s team. To be fair, it’s really better to say that Optimus has a few followers, as most have gone on to the other two teams. My mission is to support Spike’s team, but the facts aren’t adding up. [[EDIT BY MUZZLE: they never do, pal. They never do.]] 

This personal log is part of an investigation regarding the likelihood of another full-scale attack on Earth. But, the last time this happened, plasma energy from Cybertron nearly made this planet’s sun go nova. Earth and Cybertron were almost destroyed. So I need to include it anyway. All the pieces matter. If Spike and Prime and Rodimus all ignore my analysis, at least I will have done my best to convince them of this threat.

I drive up to what I have been told is a “volcano”, which is mountainous terrain shaped by natural geothermal processes. The fact that some of the most important participants of our war were subject to this highly dangerous area for millions of years is itself very troubling and emblematic of the fragility of the current situation. I file this away for later.

The volcano is almost completely crumbled. Records indicate [[EDIT BY MUZZLE: Confirmed.]] that the volcano and the Vanguard-class starship underneath it were destroyed 3 years ago by Trypticon, an Earth-based Decepticon battle platform.

The day is overcast. The sky has been grey ever since I arrived.

Muzzle chose my Earthen alt-mode. She did great; it’s fast. [[EDIT BY MUZZLE: your colors are also the same as my old private eye logo on Nebulos before the Hive destroyed it. Wish you’d been around back then.]] I have to force myself to slow down as I see some guards. The guards’ positions are fairly weak: possible indication of a lack of personnel, a lack of morale, or both. Most of the guards are members of Optimus Prime’s emergency expedition from Cybertron 4 million years ago: Sideswipe. Bluestreak. Sunstreaker. 

I transform into robot form, and flash my detective holo-badge at Sunstreaker and Sideswipe. “Name’s Nightbeat. Detective. Headmaster from Nebulos.” I start to walk past them and their confusion becomes a half-hearted defense.

“Hey,” Sideswipe says. “You’re new?”

“I got here recently. And this-” I hold out my hand, and my head transforms into Muzzle, landing in my palm- “is my partner, Muzzle, from Nebulos.” She removed her helmet; her green skin was almost iridescent even with little sun. [[EDIT BY MUZZLE: this was a great little maneuver. I’m glad we practiced it on the flight here from Nebulos.]]

“Sheesh. All these Headmasters,” says Sunstreaker. “I’m glad there are new Autobots to help out. There's been a lot of recent deaths...”

Muzzle transforms and reconnects to my body. “What?  _ Who's been dying? _ ” As I ask the question, I can feel trillions of logic circuits, of probability estimators, of tensor processing units jump into action in my mind.

The pair of twins exchange glances. “Every year we’ve been here, we keep on losing people,” Sideswipe tells me. “I mean, yeah, it’s a war, you expect some losses. But what gets me is how... _ regular  _ it all feels. Like it’s every…”

Sunstreaker jumps in. “Year-by-year. It’s kinda creepy.”

This is  _ extremely  _ alarming to me. [[EDIT BY MUZZLE: I can feel your stress. We’re going to figure it out. Let’s file it away for later.]] I decide to file it away for later.

“Let’s come back to that. I need to speak with Optimus Prime. Where is he?”

The twins gesture towards an opening at the base of the collapsed volcano. I walk towards it, noting several things immediately:

  * Cliffjumper’s small footprints, meaning he’s watching from a hidden position
  * Giant footprints, presumably Trypticon’s, all around the area
  * Traces of rocket fuel in the air



I see Hauler, Grapple, and Hoist dislodging wreckage. They stop and wave. Everyone here is somber, like we’re attending a funeral. I hear hushed tones inside. Jazz’s voice. 

“...just saying we should try making a deal with the humans,” was the last thing I heard Jazz say before he notices my approach. And then there  _ he  _ is.

Optimus Prime. 

He’s sitting on the bridge and while Jazz stops to look at me, Prime doesn’t even move. 

“Nightbeat?” Jazz says to me. “What are you doing here?”

As Jazz speaks, I can’t help but notice everything going on in the bridge area terminals:

  * Time till Ark is repaired: 32 days
  * Fuel reserves: 16%
  * Stellar map including Earth’s sun, Cybertron’s sun, and Proxima Centauri
  * Detailed plans to refuel using induction energy from Jupiter’s magnetosphere
  * Traces of human DNA (skin flakes, dandruff?) on ground. Possible recent human visitation



“I’m here from Nebulos. I’m a Headmaster now. Spike Witwicky sent for me.”

“Did...you come to join us?” Jazz says with a tinge of hope in his voice.

“No. I’m here to support E.D.C. But I’ve been noticing some other strange behavior, and I had to see for myself what’s going on. So I have some questions for you, Prime.”

Optimus doesn’t look up. He’s holding a tiny [[EDIT BY MUZZLE: it’s a journal. Like a data pad made of pulpy tree matter]] data pad whose title I cannot read [[EDIT BY MUZZLE: It’s in the Earth language “English” and is titled “Spike’s Journal”.]]. He’s flipping through it. I record the text from the reflection on Prime’s chest windows for later.

“Nightbeat,” he says, and I admit I tremble for a nanosecond. I’ve never seen Prime this close before, and even when dejected, he makes my vertebral structure align straight. “Am I under an investigation?” 

At this moment, I notice several key facts about Optimus’s appearance and posture:

  * The left side of his body is slack relative to the right side, perhaps near a previously-fatal wound that Megatron dealt him several years ago
  * The brightness of his optics is approximately 70% of its usual value
  * The damage brought to his body before he was truly resurrected was most likely stalled when coated with a radiation-resistant substance, but without it, deterioration of his body has continued.



“No. No, sir. Optimus, Spike doesn’t even know I’m here. I’ve been trying to investigate everything going on here on Earth lately--the return of Galvatron and Zarak, the split between you and Rodimus and Spike, the unknown threat in the region called New York--but I’m afraid that none of us will be able to fight unless we all work together and coordinate. I need access to Autobot City datatrax, to Teletraan’s logs, if they’re available. I need everything you know about the Decepticons. I need to know what happened with you and Rodimus. And with Spike.”

Optimus closes the journal. “Were you on Cybertron when we nearly  _ brought it to Earth? _ Do you understand the magnitude of that catastrophe, Nightbeat? Billions,  _ billions  _ of lives were at risk. Due to my actions. And a few years ago, Galvatron nearly catapulted the world back to Earth. The world is still recovering from that. And only Spike was able to save the world. That’s as it should be, don’t you see? A human should be the one saving Earth. And you must know that it was Rodimus who destroyed Unicron. The Autobots have outgrown me, Nightbeat. My ideas are outdated and need to be left aside, to protect the humans and the Autobots from my empty wisdom.”

And then Jazz looks straight down at the floor, walks slowly over to me, and says, “He’s been like this for weeks now. I’ve tried everything. And then Spike has the nerve to visit recently to throw that journal in Prime’s face, just totally burning any bridge there may have been between them.”

I shrug past Jazz. “Look, Prime. I know it’s been rough, but-”

“The Matrix is empty, Nightbeat. We had the Golden Age and it was gone in a flash. We must spare this world from further destruction!”

“By abandoning it to the Decepticons? Can’t you see that’s a terrible idea?”

“I underestimated the capacity of humans to annihilate themselves. Nothing I can do will change that.” He hands Spike’s journal to me, and it’s all of a sudden really difficult to listen to him as I want to read it. “Take this. It may give you some insight into Spike’s grief. The Ark departs in about one month. I will do whatever I can to help until then, but I will not cause this planet to suffer anymore.”

I look around for medics. There are none.

I turn and walk away without another word. There is no time to waste. I’m already flipping through Spike’s journal, trying to decode the funny squiggles into words. 

As I leave, I see someone who looks like Bumblebee waves good-bye to me.

My investigation is complete, but I can’t tell them what I just learned about Prime. In addition to the depression that Muzzle immediately identified, the breakdown of his body leads to one inexorable truth:

Optimus Prime is dying. 

It’s time for Plan B. Next stop: Rodimus.

[[end personal log]]

* * *

[[extract of conversation between Decepticon intelligence members and Galvatron. Supplied by spy asset.]]

[Loud Decepticon voice] Well!?

[Frightened Decepticon voice] Only about 35 Decepticons are available, L-Lord Galv-

[Scream of rage, followed by a shriek and explosion.]

[Spy asset voice] Lord Galvatron, Flamefeather is dead…!

[Galvatron] You fool! We have been sabotaged by Zarak! WHERE ARE THE SEACONS AND PREDACONS!?

[???] They were destroyed...destroyed by warriors in New York, Mighty Galvatron!

[Galvatron] How dare you stand there, you, Cyclonus, forged in Unicron’s flame itself, and tell me you were beaten by--by WHAT?

[sounds of metal pummeling metal, groans of Cyclonus]

[[EDIT BY MUZZLE: so this is Galvatron. The kinda guy who does our job for us?]]

[[Yes. He’s a threat to everyone around him. Especially those around him.]]

[Cyclonus, weary] The...the warriors in New York...super-powerful...growing stronger by the day…so bright, hard to even look at them...their domain expanding...3, maybe 4 of them…

[Galvatron, frantic, shrill] This...th-this must be an Autobot trick! Yes, that’s it! It must be Rodimus! It must be Optimus! We attack Sherman Dam and will vanquish them once and for all!

[Spy asset] Yes, Mighty Galvatron.

[[end Decepticon intelligence excerpt]]


	4. The Journal of Spike Witwicky: 1979 - 2007

[[Excerpts from the journal of Spike Witwicky, 1979 - 2007]]

-June 2, 1979-

I turned 9 today. Yay! Mom bought me this journal and some other toys. Dad let me play with his lucky wrench. Dad lost his job and he says it’s hard to get jobs in oil right now, but Mom says not to worry and her job is good enough. Dad may have to go back to crystal mining. I hope I can go with him!

[[1980 - 1981: assorted doodles of dragons and robots.]]

-January 14, 1982-

Mom died today [[evidence of tear-stains on paper is present]]. Mom died.

-March 13, 1983- [[teenage employment]]

I’ve been on an oil rig for 2 weeks! Dad says technically I’m not supposed to be working on an oil rig but we need the money and support and I can be paid under the table. I’m missing a lot of school but we need the money. Dad says I can learn a lot at a real job that I can’t learn at school. I got to use the bailer today. It can take your whole hand off. That’s really cool. Dad caught me trying to smoke and said I should D.A.R.E to keep kids off drugs or something. This place is scary. Three guys died last month and that’s how we got brought on. Some substance came up through the water and lit a lot of people on fire. I won’t make that mistake. I know how to use the equipment properly. Dad says I’m really good with these kinds of things. 

-September 17, 1984- [[initial contact with Cybertronian life]]

Oh my God. Oh my God. You won’t believe what happened to me today.

[[doodles of robots, a truck, cars, planes, and a gun]]

An evil alien robot shot down the oil rig where Dad and I worked. But why am I so happy?! Because another alien robot saved us, swam out into the water and picked us up. Oh my God. His name was “Optimis [[sic]] Prime”.

-September 18, 1984-

More about them. The Autobots are a highly-advanced form of robot. I don’t really know if they’re from the past, or the future, but they can think and have real feelings. I can’t believe this is happening to me!

Really got to know Hound today. Cybertron sounds amazing. I really want to go. I think I’ve forgotten about everything in my life until this point.

 _The Decepticons attacked Sherman Dam today. It’s a_ _hidrolectric_ _hydroelectric power plant, rated 1.75 GW. My dad was a superhero and saved some guys! It was awesome! I even helped Jazz figure out their plot from the beginning._ [[emphasis mine]] I nearly drowned trying to help Hound, and I wanted revenge against the little Decepticon who knocked me into the water. Why did I think I could take on a robot all by myself?

-September 19, 1984 -

Every day is crazier than the last. Dad got caught in a mine explosion today but survived! Optimus went in after them and got hurt too, but he survived too. He is insanely powerful. 

_Optimus Prime cares a lot for his fellow robots, and he doesn’t want anything to happen to them. I think he’d make a neat President!_

Because the Autobots stopped the Decepticons from stealing Earth’s resources, the governments of the world have agreed to give Optimus Prime the energy he needs to revitalize Cybertron. _It’s probably the first time all the governments ever agreed on anything!_ Well, that’s it from Earth! Next stop: Cybertron! 

PS: One more thing: I sure am glad we don’t have to worry about Megatron and all those Decepticons anymore!

-December 1984- [[father hypnotized, flew to Cybertron]]

Well, we never made it to Cybertron. We were about to take off when Prime realized he was afraid that Megatron was out there still. I have some sort of crazy adventure almost every week. At first it was thrilling, but you can get used to almost anything. 

The whole world has changed. Cybertron got brought into Earth’s orbit and caused the whole planet to be a mess. The governments of the world feel the opposite that they once felt. Very negative. Millions died. What a mess. 

We buried Skyfire but dug him up a few weeks later. It was weird.

I saw Cybertron. I could even breathe there. How many people can say they walked on an alien planet? Megatron hypnotized Dad and a lot of other humans. We saved him, _but it’s so clear that there’s no real safety from the Decepticons._

Chip Chase is involved. All his social anxiety is gone around the robots. 

-September 23, 1985- [[inhabited Autobot body]]

Something very awkward happened to me today. I was hurt and my...mind was put into an Autobot body. Still feel disoriented. Have you ever looked down and seen your own body on an operating table? I thought I had DIED. 

_Apparently I went crazy for a bit. It was weird. Everything good was bad._

I’m so used to being shot at, to be threatened, to giant robots wanting to kill me.

-September 24, 1985- [[met Carly]]

Everything started off normal: Bumblebee and I were at an arcade slacking off, and then there was this girl. She was...kinda pretty, but really pushy. Really smart. All she wanted to do was talk about Autobots. Why is she trying to get close to them? Is she like me?

She’s sneaky and clever too. And brave. She’s my age and at MIT. She can scuba-dive. And can drive somehow! We just got back from having milkshakes. Wonder if she’ll come back.

-March 2, 1987- [[“Sparkplug” starts having health problems]]

Just got back from the ER. Dad and I had just gone to the Washington Park Zoo with Bumblebee and Carly but Soundwave was there, making the animals go crazy, with Ravage and Laserbeak and Buzzsaw all helping them. Everything seemed fine but after we escaped back to Autobot HQ, Dad suddenly fell. Ratchet rushed him to a hospital. They did some kind of scan and found his heart wasn’t working right. We don’t know what’s wrong. Was it all the years of mine jobs? Exposure to all the alien radiation from Cybertron? Dad’s still there, they want to do more tests. Carly said she would stay with me. Her parents are really mad. There’s no one else out there to help me, except the Autobots. They try to understand, but I think for them, death isn’t as irreversible as it is for us. They did tests on me and Carly and whatever is getting to Dad didn’t get to us probably because we’re younger. I don’t get it.

-October 4, 1989- [[admitted to Portland State University, dropped out]]

I’ve been at college for 2 months. I don’t think I will stay. I can’t just sit in these rooms all day when Decepticons are attacking the planet. Plus I’m bored and it’s expensive. Carly argues with me all the time. Easy for her to do. She’s basically 18 with a fancy degree. People come from all over to hear her and Wheeljack talk about science things. Hoist and Perceptor showed me a prototype Exo-Suit that I can use to go into space to help them build cool new gadgets. I would rather learn what the Autobots have to teach me than all this boring Earth stuff.

Wheeljack made a crazy invention that turns a human into a robot. What’s crazy is that we were able to figure out a solution to the problem in 22 minutes and everything went back to normal afterwards. It was weird.

-July 5, 1991- [[married Carly]]

I’m writing this from my “honeymoon suite” on Iacon! Carly and I finally got married today. Dad has trouble breathing and had a stroke last year but he was able to make it. Bumblebee was my best man! Jazz provided live entertainment! Have you ever seen Ramhorn on a dance floor? Optimus even officiated the ceremony! 

Of course, the Decepticons attacked the reception. Frenzy and Rumble popped out of the wedding cake and started attacking the guests. Amazingly, every shot missed. Red Alert’s security is really good. Afterwards Omega Supreme flew us to Cybertron.

-May 1993- [[Daniel born]]

Our wonderful son, Daniel, was born yesterday morning. Ratchet was present for the birth and very curious. He had no idea what was going on. I felt squeamish, not at seeing the birth, but thinking--this is it, this is me as a father, like my own dad who is dying. I’m so glad Dad got to meet Danny. We named our son after him, after all.

The Autobots are all happy and stunned. “Why build humans this way?” Cliffjumper asked, and Carly rolled her eyes and laughed.

1994: [[EDC created]]

I have no time lately to keep up with this journal. Very busy. Megatron made a bomb that turned all humans old and feeble and Decepticons were running around literally pickpocketing humans for money. Money! Energon is getting desperate as they want to offer money instead of just stealing it. Strangely, Wheeljack, Perceptor, and Carly figured out how to reverse the ray in just 21 minutes.

Earth Defense Command was created this year, finally. A bunch of ex-GI Joe people want to get involved. I may join, who knows!

Prime gives Danny rides in Roller.

1995 [[“Sparkplug” dies, menace of the “Deluxe” Insecticons]]

Awful year. Dad succumbed this year to what First Aid and Ratchet are calling “Energotopsis”, exposure to too much Transformer internal circuitry. He literally died by trying to fix them. Out of nowhere these new Insecticons show up--Venom, Barrage, Chop Shop, and Ransack. These guys are really tough and basically become a worldwide pest all year. But the Omnibots showed up too, and only a few months ago, they ended up destroying each other. Things feel edgier, more extreme. Am I just getting older?

1996 [[Autobots focus resources on Earth, Decepticon dominance increasing on Cybertron]]

A lot of Autobots are enjoying life on Earth, and the Decepticons are pulling back to Cybertron. It’s only been 12 years since they arrived, but our world has completely changed. New technology, new miracles that we never thought would be possible. On the other hand, millions are at risk every year their war goes on.

Space travel happens everyday. Danny even came with me on the first shuttle from Cybertron. We now live in a new small desert base named Metroplex. He’s getting bigger and bigger every month. 

An Autobot named DeeJay decided to live with us, transforming into a portable CD player!

1997 [[beginnings of Autobot City]]

Things are going so well this year that many Autobots are choosing to make their permanent residence here on Earth. Prowl brought several key members to live at Metroplex. I met Hot Rod and Arcee this year, and next year Springer, Kup, and Blurr volunteered to live here. What’s amazing is that they are all deferential to me, like I’m some kind of big deal. 

Carly is doing work with E.D.C, using that chemical engineering degree in ways I bet she never imagined. It’s weird, at night we’re just this regular family, but during the day I fight evil robots and she flies through warp gates all over the solar system.

The placeholder name for our new base is “Autobot City” until we can think of something better.

Danny got his first jumpsuit and it’s very cute.

1998 [[Carly synthesizes energon directly]]

Carly did something amazing in June: she artificially created energon from various compounds! It’s not cost-effective, but it will definitely help the Autobots.

Optimus Prime has gone back to Cybertron and is leading the war effort there. Danny cried and cried when he left. But he always comes back, even if only for short visits.

Prime tried to transport the supercomputer Vector Sigma to Earth, but it was stopped by an Air Strike patrol counterattack.

2000 [[More Transformers are being built on Earth than Cybertron, Autobots interface with software companies, BlasterNet]]

Perceptor reported this year that more Transformers are living on Earth now than even Cybertron! Some of these native Transformers are integrating with our technology in interesting ways. DeeJay is now “iJay” and exists as a pure software “app”. Blaster is able to control telecommunications with email.

Prime is not doing well on Cybertron and has had to retreat to Cybertron’s second moon.

Shawn Berger’s son ran for president and lost. Carly and I helped put an end to his anti-Transformer efforts.

2002 [[Optimus Prime reveals the Matrix in battle to retake Moonbase-2]]

The tide on Cybertron appears to be breaking. Optimus was about to lose a battle, but he unleashed this device from his chest called “a matrix”, whose light repelled the Decepticon forces. Once almost 20 years ago, Dad and I were fixing Optimus’s chest after he exploded, and we saw something that we couldn’t explain, something like heavy blue crystal. Was that it? A lot of the “newer” Autobots have never heard of it, but Ironhide and Kup seem to have some stories to tell about it.

Danny and Hot Rod are close. I bought him a hoverboard for Christmas. It had better not break. It cost almost $3000.

2005 [[scourge of Unicron]]

Great tragedy and great glory this year. Optimus Prime died. Danny is still not taking it too well. The new leader is Hot Rod! I’m still surprised. He holds the Matrix and destroyed a giant world-sized Transformer. He’s very...different than Optimus was. I still don’t really think of him as “Prime”, to be honest. He’s still kind deep down and still cares for us all, but he struggles so much. Cybertron is back under Autobot control at last.

Carly’s in shock. She thought Danny and I were dead. Things haven’t been exactly rosy since we got back from space this time. Autobot City needs to be repaired. 

Even though so many Autobots died, Bumblebee is still with us, like he has been for over 20 years.

2006 [[Nebulos, “-Masters”, Golden Age returns]]

Optimus Prime is back! That didn’t take long.

New Autobots keep appearing as quickly as old ones disappear or die.

Danny was critically wounded in battle on Nebulos. Arcee and I managed to save him by an experimental “binary bond” that Brainstorm and I came up with. He and Arcee are alive. I did the same with an Autobot named Cerebros. We built our new home, the flying city Fortress Maximus and drove the Decepticons from Cybertron as Vector Sigma reformatted the world. It’s a very happy ending. Soon, Danny, Arcee, Cerebros and I will return to Earth. To Carly.

2007 [[rift between Spike and Carly, Golden Age War begins and ends, Cybertron lifeless]]

My final written entry. Writing has become increasingly difficult. _I have 23 senses now._ With a squeeze of my fist I can crush an asteroid. I prefer space, particularly interstellar space, far from the sensory overload of the electromagnetic spectrum near my old home, Earth. Cerebros and I did not understand what the binary bonding process entailed. His massive, ancient mind has given me insight that I could never have foreseen as a foolish boy on an oil rig. I was a creature who only lived for maybe a century; with Cerebros _I will never die._ As another unexpected result, Fortress Maximus itself seems to have gained sentience. Whether it’s just an after-effect of my bond with Cerebros, I suppose time will tell. 

I patrol the Gould Belt in our stellar neighborhood for threats, but honestly, this is an excuse to explore the universe. Earth is so minute this far into space. Only Danny and Carly remind me that I am human. When I am near them, I feel like I’ve forgotten how to talk. The last time I saw Carly, I saw her face, through to her muscles and bone. I saw quarks emitting gluons, I saw neutrinos phasing through her body. I saw her bio-electric field. But I was unable to see her. I must work on this. I need time to remember what humans are like.

Fortress Maximus is powered by plasma energy from within Cybertron. I have learned to harness it. It seems to be a form of energy that violates the second law of thermodynamics; it perpetuates itself, giving me a slight bit more energy the more I use it! The Autobots regard this as faintly sacrilegious; how could they not? It nearly destroyed their world. But it has no effect on me. 

The Golden Age war was brief. Galvatron and Scorponok returned to Cybertron, leaving it a husk after we repelled them once again. Hot Rod, unshackled from his bonds of leadership, became a perfect leader. What amazing irony!

He and Optimus have had a bit of a falling out, as I understand. But I cannot intercede; I must return to Earth, to my Carly, to my Danny, so that they may remember that I love them. And I must remember as well.

[[end excerpts]]


	5. Autobot City San Francisco

[[Matrix-induced dream of Rodimus, oral testimony to First Aid, September 3, 2008]]

Book of Unicron

[[retelling of the Siege of Unicron, snipped]]

Unicron 32:4 I’m dying in the dark. But I take the Matrix back from Galvatron.

Unicron 32:5 I stand and hold it overhead.

Unicron 32:6-8 I am being born. The Matrix activates a program that reloads me, restarts me, optimizes me. Galvatron is afraid. The one who killed Ultra Magnus, Optimus Prime, is afraid.

Unicron 33:1 I see them all as I hold it overhead: Optimus, Sentinel, Zeta. Prima. Prime Nova. Pryma Magna. Guardian Prime. Ultimus Prime. 

Unicron 33:2 I see farther back than all of them. I see The One at the beginning, creating Vector Sigma. I see Vector Gamma, Vector Alpha. I see further back. I see time, I see it bending into a circle. Time is frozen. _Galvatron is afraid. Of me._

Unicron 34:1 I hear Prima: “Hot Rod is a shell you have outgrown. Break free!”

Unicron 34:2 Prime Nova tells me to “shatter it all. Let it all go.”

Unicron 34:3 Optimus tells me: “Arise, Rodimus Prime!”

_First Aid’s notes:_

_First Aid: Rodimus, with all due respect to the line of Primes...I’m not sure how to ask this, but: are you making all this up? Is this a dream or are you just embellishing what happened inside Unicron?_

_Rodimus: Aren’t dreams all “just made up”? Every time I remember that moment, I recall details that weren’t there before. It was a vision, First Aid._

_First Aid: But the Matrix is empty. How could it have given you a dream?_

_Rodimus: Yes, my form changed once the Matrix was removed. But my consciousness hasn’t. The Matrix is empty but from that Emptiness springs all things._

[[end dream]]

* * *

[[Muzzle’s personal log of visit to Autobot City San Francisco. Interview with Rodimus. October 2, 2008. Originally written in Korajan language (Nebulanese).]]

2:15pm: The drive from Portland to San Francisco was about 13 hours. We could’ve flown, and Nightbeat insisted we do so [[EDIT BY NIGHTBEAT: Wasn’t I right, in the end? There was no time to waste.]]. But I do my best work with time to think. I need to know what this Earth is like. I need to know what kind of planet makes a human like Spike so driven. Plus, I need to practice my accent.

The sun still blinds me. Earth has such a bright star! On Nebulos, we are aware of this Earth’s sun and call it “Golden Teardrop”. [[EDIT BY NIGHTBEAT: and the Earthlings call your sun “Kapteyn’s Star”.]] Almost no one on this planet is green, so I have taken to hiding behind sunglasses for disguise as well. I routinely get looks, so it’s not very effective.

Spike’s bond with Cerebros has changed him dramatically. The Spike who came to get us on Nebulos was different from the Spike who flew us away. Cerebros’s mind is already massive, and I’m not certain that Spike was ready to have his consciousness expanded to this degree. He seems to be experiencing a depth of binary bonding that the rest of us have not--yet. 

His energy reserves seem virtually limitless, thanks to plasma energy. It’s the opposite of the Autobots and Decepticons down here, all suffering and desperate.

When he and Cerebros built Fortress Maximus, right there in front of us, Quig, Lug and I offered to help him fight the Hive and the Decepticons. But he told us to just stay safe, and that he would be back. It was all very heroic. We were first in line out of those secret rebel caves to help him when he returned. But even by then, he had changed.

Still, he came to argue recently with Optimus Prime, angrily discarding a journal at the Ark. Maybe some human emotion remains inside him. 

During the day, I drive; at night, I sleep and Nightbeat drives. I’m still getting used to feeling a part of myself as being asleep when he puts himself into light stasis.

4:41pm: Arrival. What a place.

Autobot City San Fran is more of an amusement park than a city. One big, non-stop party. Apparently, nine months ago. Metroplex himself did the same drive that we just did, from Oregon to California, very slowly. [[EDIT BY NIGHTBEAT: typical Rodimus. During an energon crisis, he spends so much to drive Metroplex across a state, or walk him along a coastline.]] Instead of repairing Autobot City after Galvatron’s attack last year, he has pulled this stunt.

I park next to an entrance gate. Nightbeat has recognized the blaring sounds as being from about 30 years ago, full of rapidly arpeggiating “80s guitar solos” and garish neon Autobot symbols. I step out. I have on a trench coat and fedora, as per Nightbeat’s recommendations. It’s clear as soon as my foot hits the ground that I stand out, but there’s nothing to do about that now.

“That’ll be $19.95,” says a clerk at the gate. I hear whispering behind me. 

For a moment, I have no idea what he’s talking about, but Nightbeat fills me in and I give him a green slip of paper, and he passes me back some coins. He then says, “Hey, where you from?”

“Portland,” I reply.

“I like the way you talk. Poort-yand. Your folks from Mexico or somethin’?”

“Um, yeah.”

“You one-a-them superheroes? Like the new green ones in NY? You got a...I dunno, a green Carmen Sandiego thing goin’ on.” [[EDIT BY NIGHTBEAT: Ah, Carmen Sandiego! That program is where I got your wardrobe suggestion from!]]

I ignore him and walk on. Humans flood around me wearing loose, summery clothes, while I walk around in a burgundy trench coat. 

The attractions are undeniably interesting: Ride-A-Dinobot: Young humans riding on the back on Autobots in bestial forms. Ride-A-Protectobot: humans being driven around Metroplex on emergency vehicle Autobots. Aerial-form Autobots fly overhead as humans cheer. A “shoot an Autobot gun!” firing range that lets you win “Rodimus Bux” if you hit a Galvatron target. I look up and see Autobot and American flags all over Metroplex. There are monitors everywhere, displaying computer-generated images of Autobots transforming, overlaid with a musical style that Nightbeat tells me is “nu-metal”.

There is a constant roar of humanity here. They are so interested in fun and excitement that it’s hard to not be swept up in it all. I step over bits of fluffy pink sugar in the grass. I start to sense intense electrical activity in a large yellow tent nearby, and I peek in.

Four human-sized Autobots are inside, monitoring several terminals. They glance over at me, and a red and yellow one waves me away and says, “Back outside, human. We’re busy here.”

I cross my arms and smirk. “I’m not a human. I’m an Autobot, just like you.” At this, all four of them turn to face me. I point my finger at the red and yellow one, and my eye twitches a moment as Nightbeat uploads the relevant information to me: “You’re Roadhandler.” I point to the other three in turn. “Tailspin. Free Wheeler. Swindler. Could you help me find Rodimus? It’s urgent.”

They all glance at each other. “Headmaster. Look at her scans. She’s coming up as Nightbeat,” Roadhandler says. “I’ll take you,” Roadhandler says. “The rest of you, keep monitoring for security breaches. You: do you want a ride?”

“No, let’s talk and walk. I have some questions if you don’t mind.”

We walk a meandering path through little humans playing games with weapons that emit only water, through humans eating over checkered cloth. “Be careful around Rodimus. You’re an Autobot so I can tell you this. He’s kind of...lost in the Matrix, lately.”

“But I thought the Matrix was empty.”

“It’s just an expression. He’s very, um...inner-looking these days. It’s not always clear what he’s talking about. Just be careful.” His words don’t feel threatening, but sound slightly embarrassed. 

We arrive at his headquarters within Metroplex. “Rodimus,” Roadhandler says, “I gotta visitor for you. An Autobot, from Nebulos.”

Seated lotus-position on the floor in a great red room is Rodimus, the back of his right hand resting on the palm of the left, the tips of the thumbs lightly touching. His optics are dim, and he’s nearly motionless. 

The only other object in the room is a single hollowed yellow sphere with white handles, floating near one wall. [[EDIT BY NIGHTBEAT: Great Cybertron. That’s the _Matrix._ ]]

Just as I’m about to say something, he speaks: “Thank you, Roadhandler, feel free to head back. Come in, come in. You are…?”

“Thanks. Name’s Muzzle.” I hold out my palm to show him my Autobot badge, forgetting I’m not a large robot right now. “Private investigator. Should I sit like this, like you are...?”

“Whatever works for you,” he said. His optics re-brightened. They were so bright blue that I was glad to have sunglasses on indoors. 

“I’m here on Earth to support E.D.C on Spike’s behalf. Nightbeat and I have been--”

“I know why you’ve come,” Rodimus said.

“Oh?”

“Optimus Prime sent you here to try to convince me to work with him again. Well, that won’t happen.”

“Optimus didn’t send me here. I’m here because the Decepticons are about to attack Sherman Dam. You saw what happened when they attacked Earth last time. I need your help. And Optimus’s, and Spike’s.”

“Sherman Dam? Fine. I’ll assign the Aerialbots to patrol the area. Is there anything else?”

“We need more than patrols. Galvatron appears to be unhinged--more so than usual. This may be a final desperation move. I advise extreme caution, Rodimus! You’ll need to rethink this whole very public, human-filled setup you have-”

“Autocity San Fran isn’t going anywhere. We’ve taken so much from these people, it’s time we give something back-”

I stand up, and whether I’m frustrated or sleep-deprived, I can’t tell. “By downplaying this threat, _you’re_ the problem. You’re endangering them worse than Optimus Prime ever-”

“ _I’m. Not. Optimus,_ ” he said with a growl I didn’t think it possible for a robot to make. His optics began to shine even more brightly, and he began to emit a blue aura. [[EDIT BY NIGHTBEAT: I’ve never seen this before. I have no idea what’s happening.]] I begin to back away when Rodimus returns to his lotus position. The blue aura became distorted, made shapes like a magnetic field with his palms as the poles.

I catch my breath. “Rodimus, what’s happening to you?”

Rodimus looked over at the empty Matrix, ignoring me. “Why won’t you give me guidance, like you once did?”

“What do you mean?”

“I can’t make you understand,” he said, his optics dimming as he sat motionless. “It’s Autobot stuff. I can’t explain it.”

“But I _am_ an Autobot,” I say. I can sense Nightbeat approaching in car mode, staying just close enough in case I need him. “I know I don’t look it. Didn’t you bond with Firebolt?”

“You Headmasters are different.”

“Why do you keep talking to the Matrix? It’s empty.”

“It is, and it isn’t. It changed me, but when Optimus returned, it...didn’t stop. My change isn’t...complete…” He looked like he was struggling to concentrate.

“Optimus Prime’s return delayed something important, didn’t it? You thought you changed all at once, inside Unicron. But that was just the beginning. Am I right?”

“Even though the Matrix isn’t within me, I’m still affected by it. It changed me and some parts of it will never go back to the way I was. I only had it within me for what, an Earth year? Even if everyone still sees me as that brash punk-”

“You still play the part.”

“We need the humans, Muzzle. We need their energy, and they need our protection. On Nebulos, Danny was hurt and I couldn’t save him. I won’t keep failing him, or any other human. We stay here. Optimus can leave and exile himself like he always does. Let the humans feel safe around us for once. They deserve to.”

I don’t tell him what I know. He thinks he knows everything. He doesn’t know that the humans are eavesdropping on their communications network and have been for decades. I file that away for another day, if we make it through this.

I try something different. “Whatever you’re going through, Optimus can help. You could be in a very dangerous state. I can see that your laser core is overwhelmed. Please.”

Rodimus smiled. “Of course you know what a laser core is. Autobots come in such odd forms these days.” His smile faded back into intense concentration. “I’ll take your Sherman Dam intel under advisement. And don’t worry about me. If anything, you need to worry about Spike and Cerebros.” He fell silent.

“So you won’t take active measures now? Rodimus?” No response. 

I walk back outside of his headquarters, tracing my gloved fingers along the warm white metal. “No luck,” I say out loud. “I guess Spike is our last hope.”

 _No, there’s still one more person to try before that,_ I hear Nightbeat say in my thoughts. I stare far off in the distance at a long red bridge, prominent against the water.

“Yes. Of course. That makes sense. Let’s go visit Carly.”

[[end Rodimus log]]

* * *

[[Change.org petition to give citizenship status to Autobots]]

Give Autobots American Citizenship Status

change.org

C. Chase

The Autobots have been fighting for our planet for over two decades. They care more about Earth than some Earthlings do. They deserve to participate in our democracy. In exchange for fuel, they protect us. They’ve changed our lives. They built new leg braces so that I can walk again. They could save so many lives if we treated them as first-class citizens. 

THIS PETITION WAS DELIVERED TO: everyone

PETITION CLOSED

100,000 supporters reached on October 1, 2008

[[end petition]]


	6. When All Are None

[[Conversation between Optimus and Rodimus, nano-listening device from Muzzle’s fingertips, left on Rodimus’ quarters, anterior wall in Metroplex. October 3, 2008.]]

Rodimus: How did you get this frequency?

_ Emergency protocol. Metroplex is aware of our DEFCON-ZERO system, WHEN-ALL-ARE-NONE, to be used only in moments of great danger. And great danger is coming, Rodimus. _

R: Is that what Nightbeat told you? 

_ I know that you don’t want to hear from me. But since Ultra Magnus is dead, you are the only other person who understands what I’m about to tell you. You were right, Rodimus. You were right. The Matrix may be empty, but it’s still alive. And it speaks through you. Rodimus? _

I...I just don’t know what to say.

_ I held the Matrix within me for so long, and got so used to its voice, that I confused it with my own. I didn’t hear it telling me that there was a new path for us to follow. Our meeting the Nebulans, integration of organic beings into ourselves...that was only the beginning. Your desire to join the humans, protect them and merge with their culture...I see now that is the next phase. And so I am sending the remaining Autobots under my command to you, if they so wish. _

Y-you’re...putting them under my command? What about you?

_ This body...far too damaged. Even before the Golden Age War. Heat-resistant alloy only slowed down my deterioration from nearly flying into a sun. Sometimes, things take time to become clear. _

Are you saying you’re--you’re dying?

_ You speak...with such anguish… _

Optimus...please, not again...I’m so sorry…

_ I’ve been wanting to tell you this for years: don’t blame yourself. For me. For your leadership of the Autobots. Please, don’t carry that on yourself anymore. I failed to teach you about- _

No! Stop it! You don’t get to make this about some failure of yours! I screwed up the Autobots!

_ You did not. The changes in you...they’re still happening. Even if I couldn’t see you over this monitor, I can sense them. No Autobot has changed exactly like you have. I...only wish I...could guide your transformation...took me almost 100 years to fully...grow into Optimus Prime from Orion Pax… _

Optimus, you need help. We’re coming for you and I’m bringing First Aid-

_ I can see it all... perfectly now...why some of us die so regularly...why some of us keep coming back...the unbroken chain that leads us to what will come after us...the chain that you now must pull...you’ve seen it too, haven’t you? Deep inside the mystery of the empty Matrix… _

[[Sound of collapsing metal]]

Optimus!  [[Sound of running metal footsteps, engines revving up, fading into distance.]] 

[[End conversation log]]

* * *

[[email extraction from Carly’s Autobot laptop Apple-Eye, October 3, 2008]]

Spike,

I’m so sorry it has come to this. We’re all in over our heads here. Danny is struggling so much, and is going for long drives with Arcee for hours. I don’t fully understand what’s happening to you, but I know it must be tremendous.

I have bad news for you. The radioactive energon poisoning that killed your father has affected me too. No doctor knows how to stop it. How could they? We spent all that time fixing Autobots not knowing the long-term exposure to energon and their circuitry was slowly killing us. Danny found out a while back and has something like “survivor’s guilt”. I don’t have any symptoms yet, but it’s only a matter of time. That’s a living hell in its own way.

He’s so angry but doesn’t know who to be angry at. Me? You? Optimus? All of the Transformers, for killing his parents and grandfather? Did you know he tried to drink energon, wondering if he was immune to it?

While he was in the hospital, we tested him for the disease, and he doesn’t have it. Not yet. The Exo-Suits I helped design should have shielded him, you, and the Nebulans from exposure to energon. 

But that doesn’t help you and me, who spent years so close to them and their base, their internals…

Things have become awful between us, but out of the love we once had, I will find you and let you know, give you a final opportunity to get help. Help you, me, and Danny.

Love never really goes away. It really keeps changing us long after it’s gone.

-Carly

[[email unsent / in draft form. End email extraction.]]

* * *

[[personal log. Parked outside of suburban home in Portland. October 3, 2008. 1:45pm.]]

The drive back to Portland was faster than the trip to San Francisco because I largely disregarded the so-called “speed limits” imposed by the humans. I will never understand why humans are permitted to control vehicles without autonomous agents. This should not be allowed. Muzzle disagrees, but she is wrong about this. [[EDIT BY MUZZLE: I am right about this.]] [[EDIT BY NIGHTBEAT: I am right about this.]] [[further discussion redacted]]

We had been parked for an hour on a street near Carly’s ancestral home [[EDIT BY MUZZLE: “parental” is a better word here]] when she finally emerged. In car mode, I can “see” differently: 360-degree vision, vibration sensors under my treads. But with Muzzle, I can see better through her eyes. She was leaning against my driver’s side, arms crossed, fedora tipped down to block from the sun. [[EDIT BY MUZZLE: I’m not accustomed to dressing up as an alien but I will admit I like it.]]

As Carly walked towards a car, Muzzle spoke. “Dr. Carly Witwicky.”

Carly jumped as she stared at the green woman staring at her, smiling behind a pair of sunglasses. She reached in her pocket and took out a pistol. I scanned it; it was a tiny Decepticon who defected some time ago.

Muzzle held up her hands but kept approaching. “I mean you no harm.” [[EDIT BY MUZZLE: Did I say this right?]] “Please. I only want to talk. Besides, your gun won’t hurt me. Isn’t that right, Browning?”

The gun flipped out of her hand and transformed into a small coffee-colored robot with black shins. He hid behind Carly’s leg.

Carly stammered. “Y-you’re an Autobot...and you’re from Nebulos!”

“That’s right. Your husband brought me back. He sent me on an investigation for the Autobots, but the real mystery is Spike himself.”

“How did you find me?”

“There is a huge spike in Autobot signals coming from this area. Besides my little friend here behind you, your home must be full of Earth-born Micromasters that you took in. That fits with the profile of a human who really cares about Transformer life. Who else but Spike’s wife?”

“I’m not his wife anymore. I’m just Dr. Carlo now. What do you want?”

“Your help. The Decepticons are planning an attack on Sherman Dam. I’m still gathering information, but it’s going to happen soon. The Autobots need to be ready. Will you help us?”

“I...I can’t be a part of that. I did all I could for them, but it cost me...what, my whole family? I’m not getting involved with this. I need you to leave.” 

As Carly began to walk away, Muzzle said. “I know about it, you know. The energon poisoning you’re going through.”

Carly stopped but didn’t turn around.

Muzzle kept on. “I know your father-in-law died because of it. I know you have it, and you worry that Spike and Daniel have it.”

“Who  _ are  _ you?!” 

“My name is Minel-ba-arvazzia, from the Arvassian Plains of Nebulos. But you can call me ‘Muzzle’.”

“Is  _ that  _ your partner over there? That fancy blue Porsche?”

“Listen. Nightbeat and I think you are the key to all of this. About 11 years ago, you synthesized energon in a laboratory. Carly, I don’t think you understand how important this is. That synthetic energon lacks the damaging radiation that is killing your family. In fact, its presence will  _ stabilize the disease _ .”

“H-how-”

“The downside is: well, we need to replace your blood with synthetic energon.” 

Carly began to shake her head, then put her hands to her temples. “Um. What? What you’re saying--it’s impossible-”

“No, no I don’t think so. Nightbeat has a hunch that we could make this work.” Muzzle took Carly’s hands in hers. “We can save your life,  _ and Optimus Prime’s,  _ at the same time.”

“Wait,  _ what?! _ ”

[[end personal log]]

* * *

[[conversation snippet between Carly Carlo and Daniel Witwicky, audio “nanophone” from Muzzle’s glove upon Carly’s sleeve. 2:31pm]]

D: Mom, who was that?

C: No one, it was...just...an old friend.

D: Mom. Seriously?

C: It was someone from work. Look, I have to… go on a work trip. You can get yourself to school. I’ll call you from the airport. I know this is sudden but I know you can handle yourself.

[[fading voice of Daniel: yeah, sure. I’ll behave. I could hear what you really-]]

[[end conversation log, voice becoming inaudible]]


	7. The Fantastic Double Prime

[[Decepticon-Nebulan summit. Underwater Nemesis base. Spy asset data. October 4, 2008.]]

Galvatron: Welcome, Zarak.

Zarak: Galvatron.

Galvatron: Now then. To business. Our energy reserves have been dwindling since our time on Chaar. We sadly have no time to spend terrorizing humans at the moment. Not now, but soon. My personal energy reserves, unlike those of my traitorous Decepticons, remain extremely high. However, I will take Sherman Dam for myselffffzxxzz [[sound of electric sparking] FOR MYSELF. That will be the site of our new stronghold. I will face them single handedly, allowing you all to save your energy, under one condition.

Zarak: Which is?

Galvatron: That all Decepticons  _ give me their rectifier chips. _

[[Murmur of Decepticons. Long silence.]]

Galvatron: I want them all. [[sound of electric sparking]] I want all your  _ parts.  _ Give them to me and victory is assured, defeat absurd.

Unknown voice: But will you return them?

Galvatron: I will bring you the head of Optimus Prime. And with our power source re-established, you will all swear allegiance to me, once and for all.

Zarak: We have no choice. Cybertron and Nebulos are lost to the Decepticons. This is our last chance.

Galvatron: Very good! After you are all [[sound of electric crackling]] zzzzzhhhhpunished for your betrayal, then the Decepticon Empire will rise again! Now! Begin the energy transfer! I attack the dam at sunrise!

[[EDIT BY MUZZLE: Zarak the Horrid must be stopped. We can’t let him escape justice this time. So many friends, lost and enslaved on Nebulos…]]

[[EDIT BY NIGHTBEAT: I can feel you getting stressed out. Let’s file it away for later. He won’t get away this time.]]

[[end spy asset extraction]]

* * *

[[Nightbeat’s personal log of return to Spike at Fortress Maximus, October 4, 2008.]]

Muzzle parks me on the side of an empty stretch of highway in Portland.

“Ready?” I ask her. She doesn’t answer, but she nods. “Look, don’t worry. We have all the data we need. Spike will listen to us. I hope. Probably. Besides, if we aren’t, our guest who’s been tailing us will  _ definitely  _ get through to him.”

She steps out of me and I transform. There’s always an awkward moment where I can see my own headless body, and I lift her up, and she transforms into my head. The effect is a sort of “double vision” that slowly coalesces into one image as I attach my head. My right hand taps a comm on my left shoulder, emitting an Autobot access code.

Above me, the sky begins to darken and shimmer, until suddenly, the great bulk of Fortress Maximus de-cloaks just above me.

As he lands, winds kick up dust all around me. Sometimes I forget just how large he is, how much of my field of vision he takes up, how much sun he blocks out.

A hatch opens in a grand building that forms his left leg. There was no welcome committee. Inside were my crewmates, Siren and Hosehead, along with Hardhead, Brainstorm, Chromedome, and Highbrow. They all stopped to look at me solemnly.

My inference unit starts spinning, looking at them each in turn. “What’s going on, guys?”

“Spike has...not been having a good day,” Brainstorm said, reluctantly.

“You’ll see,” Hardhead said gruffly. “You should go find him.”

I wasn’t afraid of Spike. I volunteered to assist him, but he doesn’t command us like the Primes do. I’m honestly more interested than trepidatious. I leave them without another word and proceed to the bridge. I pass by Cog, who was muttering equations. As I take a lift to Maximus Bridge, I wonder what’s happened to everyone.

When the lift opens onto the bridge, I see about six or seven Spikes working various terminals. I’m stunned long enough that the lift closes again while I’m standing there. When they reopen, I barge onto the bridge. “Spike, are you--which of these is you?”

“None of them are,” says someone behind me, and my peripheral optics see something in the shape of a man. I turn to face him. “Do you like them, Nightbeat? Think about it: our heads are especially vulnerable as Headmasters. So I made these guys to be backups in the event that something happens to me or Cerebros. Useful, I’d say.”

“Uh, yes…”

Spike takes a deep breath, with a smile, putting his hands on his hips. His jumpsuit is now fully white except for a strange symbol on his chest. It looks like...a diagram of a solar system? A chemical formula? Is it an equation? He smiles up at me. I feel my mental circuits begin to overheat. [[EDIT BY MUZZLE: I feel a bit sick. What’s happening?]]

“Don’t stare too hard. I know you, Nightbeat. This here is a thought-puzzle from millions of years ago, designed by Alpha Trion and Gamma Tetron to induce a thinking being into a state of confusion. It’s the unsolvable formula for generating the plasma energy that powers Vector Sigma. It’s supposed to aid with solving puzzles, but it has ironically become a puzzle itself! Isn’t that delightful? Now then, what’s your report? Has your investigation of the threat in New York been completed?”

I can’t stop thinking about the puzzle. [[EDIT BY MUZZLE: let me help. This is troubling. He doesn’t want us to make eye contact with him. Why not?]]

“Upon arrival, I saw a greater threat, Spike. I visited Optimus Prime and Rodimus to corroborate the threat and enlist their assistance against a Decepticon uprising.”

Spike frowned and turned and began to pace slowly. “You ignored my orders. You went to Prime.”

“Orders? Spike, this is a partnership. You are not my commanding officer.”

“This is true. But we had an agreement. There is a threat to the human race that no one understands in New York. E.D.C and G.I. Joe were counting on you.”

“That’s a red herring. Let me tell you the real problem, Spike: Optimus Prime is dying. Carly is dying. And you may be dying too. Your speech has changed dramatically from the moment we set foot on this planet. I’m concerned your brain’s neural network is unable to cope with what you’re going through.”

“People are fond of telling me I’ve changed too much. They keep saying I’m not a slack-jawed son of a mechanic in a stupid hard hat. I’m sick of it-”

“Spike, there’s no time for this! We have evidence of an imminent attack on Sherman Dam-”

“I know that! Of course I know that! I know about your little road trips too! I knew as soon as you left that you would disobey me. But I already know about Galvatron. I have been reading your logs as you collect them. Don’t you think I monitor everyone who steps into or out of this base? I thought you may have had a good reason to ignore your duty; however, I see that I was mistaken.”

A large supercomputer transforms into robot mode: Cerebros. Spike rose into the air somehow (magnetically repelling off of nearby metal? Must look into that trick later) and panels of his Headmaster armor floated towards him, assembling around him until he looked identical to the other Spike-automata walking around the room, blissfully uninterested in what’s happening. Spike folds up into Cerebros’s head and lands atop his body.

“We depart for New York immediately to destroy the super powerful warriors there. Prepare for take off.”

“No, I don’t think so, Spike. Someone’s here to see you. She just arrived.”

“Who-” he started, but then Brainstorm appeared over a terminal. “Spike, it’s Carly! She’s here and wants to talk!”

Without a word, Cerebros runs to the lift, and I manage to jump in just as the door shuts. As we descend, Muzzle suggests that he looks more like a human in robot form: leaning forward, fists clenched, venting exhaust rapidly as though he were panting.

The lift door opens, and Carly is standing right there.

Cerebros spun around to me. “Why didn’t you tell me she was coming here?” I say nothing as he nervously walks forward towards her. “Carly...I-”

“Spike. Is...that you in there?” She shook her head, put a palm to her forehead. “I’m here to help. Nightbeat told me the situation. I wish we had time to talk, but...where is Optimus Prime?”

Cerebros dropped to one knee. “Prime? What does he have to do-”

I manage to get a word in. “That’s what I’ve come to tell you. Carly and Prime are sick. I think there’s a way to save them both.”

“You’re sick? But how-”

“It’s the same illness Sparkplug had. That you probably have.”

Cerebros stands up quickly and backs away. “But I can’t die anymore.”

I step in between Carly and Cerebros. “Spike, listen to me. Carly created a method of generating synthetic energon. You and Brainstorm created the Headmasters. We think we can combine these into a new...a new kind of lifeform.”

Brainstorm, formerly nervous against the edge of the room, suddenly gets animated. “Y-yes! We should be able to take my Headmaster system, and adapt it into a power-generating engine replacement. We already have Headmaster armor and Exo-Suits shielding the Nebulans and Daniel from energon radiation. This new human engine would eat food and produce synthetic energon, I think...yes, that would work! ”

“And the radiation-free energon would stave off Carly’s disease, and give Optimus Prime a permanent radiation-free source of energon at last,” I point out.

Cerebros is reeling. He’s not taking this well. I put my hand on his shoulder but he immediately lurches away from me, as if he’s received an electric shock. “I...no. No, Carly. You can’t do this! I can’t let you put yourself-”

“What? Put myself in danger? Spike, the day we met, I was captured and nearly killed by the Decepticons.  _ We’ve been in danger since the day we’ve met.  _ I wanted to keep us all safe too, but...I’ll die if I don’t do this, Spike. I thought I could be apart from this war, but-”

“No! I said no! You left me because of danger and now you’re-help, help me! Something’s wrong with Spike, he’s-” Cerebros said, but then he screamed, reached out his arm and a black and red sword suddenly materialized in his hand [[EDIT BY MUZZLE: this happened so fast, how did you even see it?]] and sliced me with it. I freeze, feeling nothing at all, and then

[[ERROR: data corrupted. Inaccessible]]

I’m slumped against a wall, unable to move. Diagnostics aren’t running. Head is damaged. I see the other Headmasters trying to wave off Cerebros, who is shouting something like  _ I hold the Master Sword!  _ I try to get up

[[ERROR: Mental circuits damaged, memory units unsynchronized]]

Oh no, oh no, I can’t feel Muzzle. Muzzle, talk to me. My head hurts so much. Spike, what did you do? Muzzle. Please. 

[[ERROR: Stasis lock imminent. Shutdown required. High levels of plasma energy detected]]

Now I see through Muzzle’s eyes. Carly is standing near her, trying to help her stand up. When did Muzzle transform into a Nebulan? She is sweating. Her little bones and muscles aren’t functioning properly. I look up and see her controlling my body. We sneak up behind Cerebros and she punches him in the back so hard that he falls flat onto his face. I hear a loud sound outside. Is something landing? A spacecraft? Muzzle falls down to her knees, propping herself on an elbow. Spike is emitting some sort of white lightning and

[[ERROR: Plasma levels overwhelming. Spark palpitation / arrhythmia beyond dangerous levels]]

Rodimus is standing there now. When did he arrive? Is he taller now? He appears to have grown? According to my records, he has grown about [[ERROR: RECORDS DAMAGED]] can’t remember. I cradle Muzzle, as she peers over my arms, seeing for both of us. [[EDIT BY MUZZLE, REDACTED FOR OFFICIAL REPORT: I still feel emotional about this. Thank you.]]

“Spike, I know you’re in there. You absorbed too much plasma energy years ago! The Matrix told me you’d be here. Optimus helped me listen. I can help you listen! Do you see?”

Optimus struggles to stand. “The longer you bond to Cerebros, the more you truly become one of us, truly become susceptible to the plasma energy you saved us from. But we can save you, Spike!”

“No! You won’t hurt Carly!” He lunges towards Rodimus, and Rodimus barely even  _ moves  _ as he dodges, just a micron off from being cut by the Master Sword, until he catches the blade between his palms.

“I’m going to save you like you saved all of us on Cybertron, Spike!” At this point, Rodimus’s chest opens, revealing the empty Matrix, and plasma energy surrounding Cerebros flows into it, causing it to glow again, filling it with slowly growing white and blue crystals.

Optimus stands tall. “The energy lost to the Hate Plague, lost in destroying Unicron, it’s all being restored! Focus, Rodimus!”

Something...amazing is happening. [[EDIT BY MUZZLE: are there  _ two  _ Primes!? Is that possible?]] It seems like a miracle. I hold Muzzle and Carly tighter.

Cerebros collapses, and his head falls off, turning into Spike. Carly rushes over to him, trying to catch him as he falls, but he’s so heavy with all the metal in his bones, and he falls over anyway. I hear him babbling:

“Vector Sigma is in our sun, our sun is in Vector Sigma.  _ Can I go back to Cybertron with you? Can I, Dad?  _ Gravitational distortion between the Kapteyn Star and the Sun and Hadean make a perfect triangle.  _ Oh shit, what are we gonna do now? _ ”

Carly removes his helmet, throws it away quickly as if it were burning still due to plasma energy. “Spike! Spike, can you hear me?” Optimus knelt next to them.

“Carly...I see you...I can see only you…”

“Spike, we’re right here with you. Brainstorm, can he be...repaired?” Optimus asks.

“I need time to figure that out.” At this point, my video feed vanishes. “But Nightbeat over here is in bad shape. Muzzle just fell unconscious! Hosehead and Siren, can you-”

“On our way,” I hear Siren shout. I feel myself being carried away.

Then blackness. The deepest blackness I have ever known.

I wake up. I’m in car mode. I can’t move. With my sensors, I “see” I’m in an infirmary in Fortress Maximus. I see...First Aid. Fixit. Brainstorm.

I see Muzzle flat on a sort of soft recovery slab [[EDIT BY MUZZLE: “hospital bed”, is what Fixit called it.]] looking over at me and smiling slowly. She mouthed the words,  _ we did it. _

And I hear her thoughts:  _ Carly’s operation is almost completed. As for Optimus...well, you have to see him to believe it. _

I could see him, in her mind’s eye.

For a minute, I’m relaxed. I’m foolish enough to think it’s all over. But then I immediately hear someone reporting:

“Rodimus, a Sky Spy has reported extensive damage to Sherman Dam! A single Decepticon is attacking! And Arcee is on her way there!” 

[[end personal log]]


	8. I destroy everything I touch.

[[Battle of Sherman Dam, October 5, 2008.]]

_Arcee’s version._

Against every impulse in my body, I raced to Sherman Dam. Daniel was driving, and held my steering wheel in a death-grip.

Before I met Daniel, I spent some time in a synthetic human body. I was terrified afterwards, to be so frail, to have such minimal natural armor or defenses, just a fragile life and a small lifespan. But that makes Daniel’s courage all the more amazing as we sped toward the source of his boyhood nightmares.

“Look!” he said as we approached the dam.

Smoke rose in dark columns across the hydroelectric power plant. Fire leapt and crackled across an administration building. Cracks in the dam were visible, spreading. Humans in blue pants and yellow hard hats fled the area.

In the air, I saw purple bolts firing down, shattering turbines and bridges. Galvatron.

There was no one else but me to stop him. How long could I last?

I had never been to the dam before, but I recognized it from records as a place where the Autobots had an early battle with the Decepticons. I drove right atop the dam, where Optimus Prime had fought Megatron decades ago.

I transformed and began to fire at him in the air. “Galvatron! Get down here!” I say. He looks down and sees me, and I already feel as though I’ve already lost.

“Arcee! How long it’s been!” he said, lowering himself to the surface. Thousands of gallons of water flowed underneath us, under a dam cracking to pieces. “Do not tremble. If even the greatest of you must die, what chance would a silly pet like you have?”

“Come and find out,” I said, removing a sword from a scabbard on my back. As I gripped it with both hands, it began to glow with a blue hue.

“Oh?” Galvatron said, smirking. “Is that Springer’s sword you’ve made into an energon weapon? Did you keep it after I killed him and Ultra Magnus? Would you like for me to kill you with it as well, to complete the trifecta?”

He fired his cannon at me. With Daniel’s help, I could _see_ faster, more deeply, and I swung the sword down the middle of the energy blast, slicing it in two, seeing the purple beams flash behind me.

“Try again,” I said.

“Ahahaha!” Galvatron said, electric sparks emitting from his temples. “Very well. _You have earned this!_ ” His arm retracted into his wrist, revealing a long, purple energon ball-and-chain flail. “This flail is thirsty for oil, Arcee. Can you hear it calling you? Calling to cleave your filthy, slimy brain in two?”

“Too much talk, Galva-” But as I spoke, he was upon me, his flail whirling so quickly that it had become a purple ring. I blocked as quickly as I could, and the flail wrapped itself around my sword, shattering it immediately. With his other hand, he grabbed my throat, his cannon pointing into my face.

“Die!” he screamed, as I looked down the glowing purple barrel. With everything I had, I swung the hilt and jagged edge at his head, and fell to the ground. He lurched back, grabbing his head. I saw a gash exposing his intercranium, and I could see a damaged perceptual analyzer. That’s when I knew I was dead.

No words now. Just savage fury and screaming. He jammed his heel into my torso and began to swing the flail faster and faster. 

That’s when I saw a truck speeding up towards him from behind.

The cab looked different, with a very large white and black engine, but I just knew it was Optimus. The truck lifted into the air, leaving the trailer behind. The truck transformed into-someone who looked like Optimus, but his body, his _colors_ seemed a little different. His right arm changed into an energon axe, and he descended upon Galvatron, who lashed out with his flail. The weapons clashed with such strength that the force dented the top of the dam on which we stood.

“Hahaha _yessss,_ you’re finally here! Optimus Prime! Don’t you remember our last battle here? When I knocked you into the river?”

“I told you what would happen if you returned to Earth, didn’t I? I told you I would put you down for good, didn’t I?”

Galvatron’s head wound and optics flickered. “That’s the Optimus I’ve missed!” His flail spun faster and I could barely keep up with their lunges and parries and feints, and they remained evenly matched.

“This is the way it should be, Prime! It was so simple, with just you and me!”

“I’ve only enjoyed seeing you fail, Galvatron.” Their weapons were locked in a clash. 

“You never let me down with your naïvete, Prime; I almost find it charming. But it’s over, old friend.” Then an excruciating high-pitched sound emitted from within Galvatron, sending Prime to his knees and leaving us both in agony.

“A-audio disruptor waves! Soundwave’s ability! You stole their rectifier chips again!” Prime yelled. What’s odd is that I could hear him almost _laughing_. “You and your old tricks!”

“And now, you’ll feel the full power of the Terrorcons, the sheer destructive power of the Stunticons! I’ll hypnotize you with Mindwipe’s powers and make you eat your own spark! I’ll--AGHHH!”

I managed to shoot him in the back of the head, right through his earlier wound. The audio disruptor waves ceased and Galvatron clutched his head, shouting “N-no! Get out of my mind!”

“Galvatron, listen to me. I didn’t come here to fight. I came here to say goodbye.” And both _Prime and his trailer behind him_ began to transform, and Prime merged with it, becoming a new sort of robot altogether. His optics gleamed red.

He fired two large black laser cannons at him. “Those are for Ironhide and Ratchet.” Smokestack-shoulder cannons pointed at Galvatron and fired. “For Prowl. Brawn. Wheeljack and Huffer and Windcharger. And-”

“Hold on, Prime!” a voice behind me said. I turn to see Rodimus driving towards us at full speed.

“Rodimus?” Optimus said.

“ _Rodimus!_ ” Galvatron screamed, staggering.

“This is my fight too!” Rodimus said, transforming into robot form. “Are you ready, Prime?” Rodimus asked, smiling and winding up his fist.

“What? Ready for... _oh I see._ Yes, let’s do it, Prime!” Optimus said.

And both Primes wound up and punched Galvatron so hard that he flew across the length of Sherman Dam.

Galvatron had risen to one knee, his head emitting energon and sparks, sizzling the water on the dam. “Cannot mend. Cannot...end it, Primes. Old friends _. I see it now. I see why some die and some come back._ ” He looked down at the energon from his head wound pooling in his hand. “Look. I can see my thoughts. Everyone can see my thoughts. So very, very close to conquest. Threw away my life. At the end, it’s so easy, Primes...”

“Galvatron…” Optimus trailed off. 

Galvatron fell into the river below.

“The other Headmasters are on their way in Fortress Maximus. We’ll retrieve his body. Don’t worry. I’ll see to it myself.” Rodimus extended his hand, and Optimus gripped it. “Till all are one,” they said in unison.

I walk over to them, still clutching the hilt of Springer’s shattered blade. “It’s...it’s really over this time, isn’t it?”

They both turned to me. Sometimes, Optimus had an expression on his face that would be a smile if his vocals weren’t covered by a face mask. “Not quite. I think this is a new chapter for you and your family,” Rodimus said.

“What do you mean?”

“‘Hi-Q’, why don’t you introduce yourself?” Optimus said. The large engine block sprang forward from his torso, transforming into a red-and-white-and-black figure with a visor. It looked up at me and smiled.

“Hi there, son.”

“Mom!?” Daniel says with my mouth. My head transforms and I can feel Daniel running into Carly’s arms. “You saved me, Mom,” he said through tears.

“You didn’t do too badly yourself, Danno,” Rodimus says. 

“How are you holding up, Optimus?” Rodimus asked.

“I am...renewed. Rejuvenated. And it’s all thanks to Hi-Q here.”

“Perfect. You and Arcee should help put out the flames here in the buildings at this dam. I will go ahead and guide Fortress Maximus towards Galvatron’s location.”

“He--he just gave me an _order!_ ” said Optimus, extremely amused. “Let’s transform and roll out, Arcee.”

But it took Daniel a few more moments before he could stop embracing his mother.

[[end Arcee’s report.]]

_Galvatron’s version:_

_Crush distort mangle the Autobots_ It’s mine. Whatever I point my cannon at is mine. The humans fleeing the dam. That will draw him out, draw out Prime. I’ll string him up between buildings and kill him forever [[data corrupted due to melted perceptual processor. Memories irretrievable.]] The pink car is firing at me, its head is filthy and contaminated with slimy human flesh, killed all her friends, kill her too [[lacuna detected]] I know, I know, I know deep down just before I kill her with this flail, _he’ll appear_ and make me lose, it’s a law of nature. What keeps him coming back, why [[memory chips missing due to head trauma]] 

_yes, what keeps us coming back, Galvatron?_ Oh no, that voice, Starscream? 

_Yes, eternal Starscream, forever crumbling into your mind!_ N-no! Get out of my mind!

_I’ve been busy! Little micro-possessions here and there, maybe helping to drive the Primes apart, maybe driving Spike a little crazy, but who would believe crazy old Galvatron is possessed, hmmm? Hahaha! Goodbye!_

Everything is so clear. The Primes are talking. I feel the punch but my pain circuits are destroyed. It’s so clear. I’m falling into the river below.

I feel the clawing madness splintering my mind for so long finally recede, finally become whispers, then nothing.

[[lacuna]]

I’m not dead yet, but I’m about to be. I wash up on a shore.

Rodimus Prime is standing over me. I can’t move. He kneels next to me.

“I need you to know something, in these last minutes. No one really knows what I’ve become. Optimus, he sees everything as good and evil. And I get that. But you know me. I break things. You saw what happened the last time I got in between you and Optimus. Everything gets all disrupted around me.” He pauses. “Can’t talk, I know. It’s okay. Your part in all this is done. But I don’t feel like getting stuck in this whole circle of good and evil anymore.”

His chest opened up, and I saw the blinding light of the Matrix, half-full.

“We’re going to do things a little differently now, just between you and me. The old Matrix helped vanquish evil, but did it stop the war from happening? Could it stop a new war? Maybe the wisdom in your broken mind can help. Maybe the Matrix can see beyond good and evil. _Will you let me absorb your memories into the Matrix?_ ”

I can just barely manage to nod.

“Understood.” A tense pause, then, “Farewell.” I see the light shine brighter and brighter. I see the crystals in the Matrix grow, become sharper and thicker, curved and serrated, the colors deepening from blue to purple.

I see it all so clearly at the end. Life has a shape and I see mine as it’s completed. Washing away in the river below.

[[end Galvatron’s log. Data extracted from Galvatron’s cranium after the battle. Information REDACTED per Rodimus Prime’s request.]]

* * *

[[Nightbeat’s personal log. October 12, 2008. Fortress Maximus, Earth-Moon Lagrange Point 5.]]

I walk into the infirmary. I see Carly standing over Spike’s bed, her helmet resting on a nightstand. Daniel was slumped over in a chair, dozing off.

“How is he, Carly?”

“No real change. Comatose, but Fixit tells me his brain activity is so active that it’s exceeding his ability to measure it. Whatever bond he and Cerebros have, it’s continuing to grow.”

“Let’s not forget that Spike himself built a whole city in a matter of _hours_ back on Nebulos. Maybe...he’s thinking really hard about how to get himself out of this predicament.”

“That actually makes me feel a little better,” Carly says with a faint smile. “The poisoning from energon, the latent plasma energy stored in Fortress Maximus...he’s been through a lot.”

“Carly. I have a question. Are you going to-” and suddenly I have a blank expression on my face. [[EDIT BY MUZZLE: No. Absolutely not. Do _not_ ask them if they’re going to get back together.]] [[EDIT BY NIGHTBEAT: Fine. Fine! Maybe later.]] “Er, sorry. I forgot what I was going to say.”

Carly squints and smirks. “You. Of all robots. You forgot something.”

My face remains blank.

“Before we put him under for the blood transfusion, I promised him that I would fight in his place. That Optimus and I would fight to keep the Earth safe, until Spike comes back to us.” She looks from Spike up to me. “And thank you, Nightbeat. Thank you both. You may have saved us all.”

I want to reply with statements such as the following:

  * “Of course. This is the duty of a detective.”
  * “Hey, it’s nothing! Spike’ll be back. I just know it!”
  * “Don’t I always say that truth is revealed in the smallest details?”



But Muzzle suggests otherwise. I nod and say, “Thank you too.”

We then join the rest of the Autobots on the bridge, and Rodimus addresses an audience from both Autobot Cities and the Ark. The room could barely contain us all.

“Welcome, all,” Optimus Prime says. “Just yesterday, Zarak has been apprehended and will be returned to Nebulos to face justice. [[EDIT BY MUZZLE: oh _yes!_ ]] We have received enough intel to discuss the ongoing concern in New York. It seems a radioactive non-energon based chemical has made its way to New York, creating four super-powerful reptilian warriors. Initial reports stated that they were hostile, but recent ones indicate that they may in fact be heroic. Either way, they have become a force to be reckoned with, and we need to make ourselves known to them. Rodimus?”

“If a skirmish develops, we are considering an offer of amnesty to any imprisoned Decepticons who wish to defend Earth. Remember: it’s till _all_ are one. Any questions?”

“Yes,” I say. “When do we start?”

Optimus and Rodimus glance at each other. Rodimus replies with a smile. “We think you need a break.”

“A mandatory vacation,” Optimus adds.

“What!?” I shout. “But shouldn’t I-!” [[EDIT BY MUZZLE: oh come on. Take your break. I want to see Earth.]]

“We need you in reserve in case this gets out of control,” Optimus says.

“Or in case we need you to bring us all together again after another falling out!” says Rodimus. The gathered Autobots laugh and give me a short round of applause. [[EDIT BY MUZZLE: it was not short.]]

With that, this report of this incident is concluded. I will follow up soon with what the Transformers find in New York. 

[[end personal log. REDACTED ADDENDA: I’m tired, Muzzle. Ready to head back to Autocity San Fran?]]

[[EDIT BY MUZZLE: Can I get a better outfit this time?]]

[[EDIT BY NIGHTBEAT: Keep the fedora and it’s a deal.]]

[[EDIT BY MUZZLE: I’m proud of you for attempting to be funny. I admit I wonder what they’ll find in New York.]]

[[EDIT BY NIGHTBEAT: Even my curiosity is done for a while. Let them worry about it for now. C’mon. Get in. Let’s go.]]

[[end report]]


	9. Commentary on the story

Writing this story was a fun challenge: for 14 days, write for an hour (at least) per day. It started off as a gag at first where I wanted to tell a straightforward G1 cartoon story as though it were filtered through a bunch of secondary sources, like a series of court documents. I wasn’t totally successful in this regard, and I definitely struggled with seeming “hacky” and trying too hard to use a style instead of just letting the characters breathe (or vent).

Here’s some thoughts about what motivated me to write what I did.

**Post-”Rebirth”.** The 4th “season” of Transformers was just 3 episodes long, had to complete the series, had to introduce over 60 characters and tell a very rushed story. It doesn’t age well. But the Headmasters are an interesting proxy to think about human (or Nebulan)-machine fusion. 

I was a child in the 1980s, and seeing that Fortress Maximus was bonded to “the Nebulan leader, Spike” was very interesting to me. They could’ve just created another character altogether for that role (the Marvel comics did, in fact), but knowing that this was  _ Spike,  _ the cartoon-only companion now having a toy incarnation was very meta--as meta as an 8-year old can grasp, anyway.

“Rebirth” also continues some of the more mystical threads from the cartoon, including communing with Vector Sigma or dealing with the after-effects of using the Matrix. This is all very “jumping the shark”; wasn’t this cartoon largely about “robots in disguise”, not vision quests? But the mystical side of the cartoon would be fun to explore anyway.

**The real world, TMNT, and the ending.** Speaking of “meta”: “Rebirth” takes place in 2006 or 2007 in-universe. That means a post-”Rebirth” story needs to be in 2007 or 2008. But “Rebirth” was aired in 1987. So I devoted a whole chapter to filling in what happened to Spike between 1988 and 2004. Of course, the Transformers’ biggest threat was not Galvatron or Unicron in 2005, but it was the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles’ arrival in 1988 that pushed them out of the spotlight. I wasn’t being subtle at all with the ongoing threat of “4 radioactive warriors in NY”, and we know TMNT is only at the beginning of a popularity surge. Transformers are about to hit a sharp decline. But we also know that both franchises wax and wane and in the long run, both do fine. It puts an abrupt, uncertain damper on the ending. But I wanted them to feel like their stories go on and that it’s not “happily ever after.”

More alarmingly for many characters in the story, they realize that something cyclically sinister is going on: every 2 or 3 years, friends mysteriously vanish, sometimes killed viciously like in the 1986 movie. In-universe, they may just explain this away as the wages of war. But the regularity has to be unnerving if you’re a character paying attention. In “Rebirth” you have the freaking Combaticons building engines on Cybertron. Why not the Constructicons? We don’t talk about them. 

**Hot Rod to Rodimus and back to Hot Rod.** However someone feels about Optimus’s death in the 1986 movie (and my elementary-school self  _ hated it,  _ and I was one of those kids who wrote tear-stained letters to Hasbro about it), it was a bold choice to keep telling the story of the future of the Transformers, with a new leader, and an old one now consigned to legend. Poor Rodimus got to be leader for all of a year, while Optimus had millions of years. That’s no fair. I wondered if it took a leader a few thousand years to even settle into the role. 

Rodimus’s energy output seems “magnetic” to me, with conflicts between opposite “poles”.

It must’ve been very disorienting to go back and forth from Rodimus to Hot Rod. I imagine that he was undergoing changes the whole time. At the very least, he just couldn’t revert to what he was before. He’s sensitive about being in Optimus’s long shadow, and having spent a lot of time on Earth, he would begin to identify with it more, and the millennia of war as something Optimus was inadvertently complicit in. He’s a disruptor and a rebel, wanting to challenge the Autobots to go even further with the -Masters and fully integrate into human societies. So now you see cell phones and laptop Autobots all over the place.

**Rodimus incorporates Galvatron into the Matrix.** On that note: Rodimus is not the stoic leader Optimus was. He wants to do what’s right even if it’s wrong. He doesn’t care for fancy speeches. Leadership is a burden, so he wants to know: how can he make it easier? Maybe the problem is the status quo, keeping the Decepticons evil. Maybe he can learn from Galvatron. Maybe’s he’s wrong about it. Maybe the Matrix is corrupted beyond recognition now. But he’s going to try something different.

The idea came to me from an issue of  _ The Invisibles _ (volume 1, issue 24), where an unlikely messianic character effectively restores life to a dying enemy. Why would he do this? God works in mysterious ways? Rodimus may have some elements in common. I even borrowed the line “Nobody knows what I am”.

**Spike and Carly’s divorce.** Carly basically has no role in Season 3, and doesn’t appear in “Rebirth”. Someone so important to Spike and Daniel should have a big presence in their lives. I didn’t want her to be a “nagging” female stereotype; she was crafty and sneaky and very smart in her early appearances. She gets that danger is part of the job. But bonding yourself and your son to war machines, even heroic ones, is crossing the line for her. It’s irrevocable and she wasn’t consulted. She has a specialty in chemistry and electronics from MIT. She’s doing just fine by herself without worrying about Spike, who is increasingly distant due to his own changes.

She was never given a last name in the show, so why not make “Carly” a nickname? At first I was going to make her pregnant with a baby girl, named Verity--yes, I was going to make up a Sunbow Verity Carlo. 

**Carly is Hi-Q.** This just made sense. Again: strong background in chemistry and electronics. Energon is a chemical and Transformers are partially electronic. Why shouldn’t she invent the Powermaster process? And now, all three members of the family have important roles.

**Starscream.** He obviously wants revenge on Galvatron. Why doesn’t he try possessing more Transformers? In his last appearance, he was corporeal again, but was careening through space. But in  _ Beast Wars _ , which takes place in a possible G1-ish future, he is disembodied again. I wanted him to cause havoc but I didn’t want to explain away _ everyone’s  _ behavior. Did he survive Galvatron’s death? Hmm.

“Ulchtar” was a name considered for Starscream, in case you didn’t know.

**Nightbeat and Muzzle.** Nightbeat got a lot of attention in the Marvel comic, but his Headmaster-ness was downplayed or even ignored in Marvel US. Also, his toy was released in 1988, making him the perfect protagonist for a “Season 5” story. I struggled with this, though: I already  _ had _ a perfectly good Headmaster pair: Arcee and Daniel. Originally, the story was going to be about them going around gathering the gang together. But super-organization of details and analysis is more of Nightbeat’s thing and it made more sense, at least for the 5 minutes I thought about it.

I made Muzzle female in this one. There was one clear example of a female Nebulan in “Rebirth”; that was my prototype. 

I also thought about She-Hulk.

I at first wanted her to be an old grizzly green woman, but I couldn’t get “green Carmen Sandiego” out of my head.

Her name sounds a little bit like the Japanese pronunciation of “Minerva”, the Masterforce toy in Japan. The “arvazzia” is from the Arvassian Plains, from the Headmasters comic. If you say them together quickly, it kinda sorta sounds like Muzzle!

**Reddit.** The actual famous “Ask me anything” subreddit is from 2009, not 2008 when the story takes place. Oh well. Maybe the Autobots accelerated human social media.

**Marissa:** At first, I was going to have Spike having an affair with Marissa Fairborne and  _ that  _ was what caused Carly to seek a divorce. I’m cool with soap opera plots, but I figured Spike was lost in his ever-expanded consciousness rather than seeking companionship.

**Transformer Cold War:** at first I was going to have a Furman “Infiltration”-style set-up simmering in the background; the Decepticons are weaker and have to engage in guerilla tactics to attack humans, like “Decepticon Actor’s Guild Skullgin” (Skullgrin had a brief movie star plot in the comic). I was imagining a “Spy vs. Spy” sort of story, with the CIA on one side and Prowl on the other. Maybe another time.

**The Ark.** Smashed by Trypticon, it still contains a lot of Autobot technology. Optimus feels the Autobots should be confiscating it before the humans do.

**Adventures of Spike.** The cartoon skipped over the 1990s completely. I bet there were all sorts of wacky adventures then. Deluxe Insecticons vs. the Omnibots? Sure, why not!

**The transfiguration of Spike.** After binary bonding, Spike undergoes a radical change, as shown in his last journal entry: Cerebros is very brainy (look at his name!) and somewhat aloof. Spike’s own mind is taken to a whole new level. Then, add on top of that Fortress Maximus. Now he has a city-sized consciousness. He can barely recognize humans now. Is he even human anymore? To make things even worse, he’s using the very dangerous plasma energy from “Rebirth”, and we know from “Autobot Spike” that his mind was prone to instability when removed from his body. Now it’s happening again on a very large scale.

I would’ve loved to explore this “super Spike” more. I was definitely thinking of Dr. Manhattan from  _ Watchmen  _ after a while.

**Book of Unicron.** Rodimus is having mystical experiences, but let’s face it: he’s also still young and prone to boasting. He really does see destroying Unicron as a very significant religious event. Maybe a bit of IDW Rodimus leaked in here; eager to prove himself. 

**Japanese Headmasters.** The Japanese Headmasters cartoon had nothing to do with “Rebirth” at all, but I liked some of the ridiculous hype in that cartoon, like Rodimus and Optimus both punching Galvatron in the face, or Galvatron craving his underlings’ “parts” in the infamous Omni dub of that cartoon.

**Disease.** There’s a lot of it here. Energon poisoning. Overloading from plasma energy. I’m writing this in the midst of a pandemic, where normal in-person bonding is potentially deadly. Everything that seems safe can be deadly. I didn’t plan to do this; it’s probably a coping strategy.

**Spike’s fate.** I originally wanted to have Spike and Carly get back together and have a happy reunion. In fact, I wrote a distant future epilogue, thousands of years from now, where they are still enjoying a very odd kind of life. On the other hand, Spike’s done enough for now, and it’s Hi-Q and Rodimus’s time to shine. Spike’s mental activity is practically immeasurable. I was going to have him fully return / incarnate into the body of Fortress Maximus, making him truly sentient.

**Nightbeat’s fate.** I was going to have Muzzle die. What happens to the Transformer when the human partner dies? I was going to have his happy ending be a “happy hallucination loop” as eventually he would die too. But this is supposed to be a Sunbow-ish cartoon, dangit. I need some sunshine in my life.

**Nightbeat and Muzzle’s “edits”:** at first I wondered if these were going to take a sinister turn, like in my Mindwipe “Hiatus” story. So I challenged myself to imagine a positive spin on them, where they calm and support each other (Nightbeat’s bio says that he and Muzzle get along very well). I also realized I was writing them in a style from the  _ Berserk  _ manga, which has a protagonist followed around by a little comic-relief sprite, often making silly replies to a grim and gritty hero’s words. I wanted the fourth wall breaking to be within the story too. I was also going to have Starscream possess Nightbeat and do some editing of his own, but this is not really Screamer’s story.

**Quotes and references.** There’s a lot. From mottos to lines from the cartoon. It’s gratuitous but fun, I hope!


End file.
